Lindsay Prescott's Blog

The Queen's Men, part 7

2011-12-18T14:41:00.000-05:00

7. A terrible date

My Lady in Waiting, Dame Adelaide, agreed to be Callum’s escort. I called Callum’s cell phone to let him know, but he let it go to voice mail. As for me, it was time to go on another date. It was time for me to go out with Lord Hudson Whitcomb. I hoped that since he was British, he might have manners. He looked nice in his photos though, so there was some hope at least.

A few days after my meeting with the President, Chancellor and Prime Minister, I went to England for a meeting with King Edward. Edward’s wife, Queen Blissany, was also friends with Astrid. Astrid told Blissany that I was going on a date with Lord Whitcomb after I met with King Edward. Naturally, when I met with him, he brought this up during tea time.

“So, Bliss tells me that you have a date arranged for tonight.”

“Seriously, does Astrid tell everyone everything?” Edward did seem to enjoy the gossip just as much as Astrid did, but it was also easy to play Edward.

“I’m sorry, I thought you might have told her.” He took a sip of his tea to make it seem like he was innocent- yeah right!

“Fine. You know him, so tell me about him.”

“Lord Whitcomb? Well, I really don’t know him all that well. It was my Father who first knighted him, and I gave him his lordship.”

“How old is he?”

“Thirty-nine, I think.” At least he was honest.

“He looks younger.”

“He’s a bit of a play boy.” Just what I didn’t need, perfect!

“He’s a womanizer?” Edward crossed his legs and raised an eyebrow.

“I did not say that, I said he was a bit of a play boy.”

“He hasn’t been married, doesn’t have any kids, so what gives?” I needed to know.

“Word is, he was wild in his youth and is finally settling down.”

“At thirty-nine? Isn’t that a little late to be settling down?”

“I didn’t marry Bliss until I was thirty-two.”

“You started dating when you were twenty-six, I don’t think that counts.”

“Right, point taken,” Edward said.

“Just tell me, what little you do know, is he even husband material?”

“Why on earth are you asking me this?”

“I have to get married.” It was a painful admission for me.

“What is this, the fourteen hundreds?”

“Well, actually, it’s the marital law of 1438. I have to be married by thirty-one or abdicate.”

“Bloody hell!” Edward set his tea down and then sank back into the large arm chair.

“Four years. It’s complete crap if you ask me.”

“A lot can happen in four years though. Cheer up!” Edward leaned over and smacked me on the shoulder like I was one of the guys.

When I returned to the hotel, I told Randolf and Uri about my conversation with Edward. There really wasn’t that much to tell, but it seemed like we had some reading between the lines to do. Randolf, surprisingly, suggested that I call Astrid since she might know something we did not. That turned out to be a dead end because Astrid was sick (when Astrid gets sick, she locks herself in her bedroom away from the whole world, and does not do anything).

“Ok, so let’s think about this,” Uri said. “He’s thirty-nine, a play boy, never married, no kids…” Randolf cut Uri off.

“That he knows of you mean.” Of course Randolf would think a secret love child could be juicy gossip.

“Whatever. He’s a Lord, so that means he has to have done something right. Besides, if Richard first knighted him, he must have really impressed the heck out of him,” I stated.

“That still doesn’t explain why Astrid told Bliss. I mean you know that had to have been intentional because Astrid wouldn’t have said so unless she knew something,” I stated.

“She could have had a Freudian slip?” Randolf suggested. Uri and I laughed.

“Astrid doesn’t slip with those sorts of things.” I interjected. “Bliss can’t keep a juicy secret, so we like to let Edward think that Astrid and I have big mouths. That way, when he’s being stubborn, we tell Bliss something that’s a big secret, so of course she tells Edward.”

“And then they get their way. Astrid and Henri together make an unstoppable team,” Uri said, then winked at me.

“I wonder what they’d be able to do with Doyle,” Randolf said.

“Still trying to get him to move in?” Uri asked.

“He’s reluctant, says we haven’t been dating that long.”

“I could always talk to Cal, you know.” Uri and Randolf both stopped what they were doing to look at me.

“You uh, would talk to Cal, about Doyle?” Randolf asked, as if it were a suspicious thing.

“They’re friends, and I do see Cal a lot, I mean for you know, work purposes and what not.”

“You do know that in the dining hall a few days ago, the surveillance guys were babbling on and on that he was in your apartment.”

“WHAT?” Oh fudge monkeys, why me?

“Oh don’t act all surprised; all of us palace employees gossip. We so very rarely get to gossip about you, so when the opportunity arises, it spreads like wildfire.”

“Randolf! Really? No, you can’t!”

“Oh pish posh. Besides, it stays in the castle walls, so keep your britches on.” That was a relief to hear.

“Ok, I’ll talk to Doyle myself, get him moved in with you Ray. Uri, turn on your laptop. Find out everything you can about Hudson.”

“He did pass Jade’s background check, and he did sign your confidentiality agreement, so that has to say something,” Uri pointed out.

“Just because he did those two things doesn’t mean he’s a good guy. There was hint of skepticism in Edward’s voice, and we have to figure it out in time.”

“Well, while you two twiddle away on those nerd boxes, I will work my magic,” Randolf said while pulling my hair out of the bun he had put it in that morning. Uri and I did exactly that. Between the two of us, we couldn’t find anything truly horrible. After a while, Uri did find a few gossip blogs that had some awful things written about him. He was called a womanizer, a pig and one blogger even called him an egomaniacal twit. I read them and blew it off as angry bloggers who must have not liked him.

As always, Randolf made me look like a million bucks. My hair was flowing down my back with a few stray, yet sexy curls and he dressed me in a stunning, Kelly green, calf length dress. It showed off a little too much cleavage, in my opinion. Uri and Randolf both insisted that I looked like a knock out in it, and then they insisted that I wear matching, Kelly green heals. I would have rather not been so matchy matchy, but I listened and wore the heals anyway.

Hudson called my room when he got to the hotel to let me know that he was downstairs waiting. Jaeger went down to inspect him and his vehicle. He let Gunther know a few minutes later that all was clear. It seemed as if his inspection wasn’t very thorough, but only because it didn’t take very long to do. Gunther and I got downstairs to find out why the inspection was so short. There was a horse drawn carriage waiting for us. When Hudson saw me, he bowed, and stayed down until I was in front of him. He stood up, took my hand and kissed it.

“Your majesty, first I must say that you look absolutely beautiful. But I must also say that I am honored that you would think of me as a potential match.”

“You may call me Henrike tonight, and thank you. So, what’s up with that?” I pointed to the carriage.

“Does the Queen of Gillingham not deserve the royal treatment?”

“Well, I guess so.” It all seemed very suspicious.

“In that case, shall we?” Hudson offered me his arm and escorted me to the carriage. I quickly realized that my dress would prove to be a problem getting in and out of the carriage. “Might I be of assistance?” Hudson offered.

“I guess I should have worn something else.” Hudson gave me a look up and down. He lingered over my chest.

“You look ravishing, Henrike.” I almost wanted to gag when he said that.

“Thank you.” Hudson offered me his hand while I awkwardly prepared to get in. I pulled my dress up a little and tried tucking the skirt between my legs while attempting to get my foot on to the carriage step. After several attempts, Hudson grabbed my ass and gave me a shove. I was completely shocked that anyone would do such a thing, especially to someone like me. Gunther saw the expression on my face and was instantly on boy guard (code for a potential bad date that he might have to intervene).

“So, I have to admit, I read the dossier Jade gave me on you from cover to cover,” Hudson said, while he leaned in towards me. Gunther, who was sitting across from us in the carriage, sat up straight to make sure that Hudson was aware of his presence.

“Cover to cover? How much could she have put about me in there?”

“It was only three pages, but still fascinating.” Hudson smiled as he said that. By the time he finished, his smile looked like he was trying to imply something sexual. I wondered if those blogs had any merit behind them. “So tell me, what exactly are you looking for in a husband?”

“What makes you think I’m looking for a husband?”

“Everyone who goes to Jade Pilgrim goes to her because her matches often result in matrimony.” I decided to play dumb.

“What on earth are you talking about? I thought she was good at setting people up with others who weren’t idiots?” Hudson raised an eyebrow.

“Surely you must have known that she’s known as the wedding whisperer.”

“The what?” That one, I had not heard of, at all (honestly!).

“You know, women who are so wound up in their work life. She gets them to get their priorities straight, settle down. And men who haven't grown up, she gets the shit out of their system.” Gunther and I shot each other looks. He then put his sunglasses on, to conceal his looks of disdain.

“So what would you call me then?” I crossed my arms and legs, with my legs pointing away from Hudson.

“You’re a Queen, you don’t count.” As Hudson spoke, he pushed my hair behind my ear. For a moment, he had redeemed the initial creepiness that had ensued.

“I suppose that explains our mode of transportation then?” I dropped my arms and folded my hands in my lap.

“Well not really, I just thought that you deserved something special.”

“You know that every time there’s a parade in Gillingham that I attend, I ride in a horse drawn carriage, right?” Hudson appeared to realize that he was a little bit out of his league.

“Oh, I didn’t realize that. Well, you know, Gillingham isn’t really talked about that much over here.” Hudson raised his hand and motioned, as if he were brushing it off as nothing of importance to him.

“Really? I would have thought that it was the opposite. There aren’t that many monarchs left, of course with England and Gillingham being some of them, I just assumed that we were a hot topic often.” I was still playing stupid. I knew that Gillingham was in the news often in England, and most of Europe for that matter. Once the media in America realized that I was raised in Chicago, they too started paying more attention to Gillingham.

“Oh yeah, I mean you know, it’s such a small country.”

“Is it?” I turned my head and put on a look of confusion for Hudson to see.

“Well yeah. Although, I hear there’s some killer beaches there.” That explained his tan.

“You like to...” I had to ask. Not everyone goes to the beach for the same reason.

“Surf, a lot. I travel everywhere for a good wave.” Oh boy.

“Where have you been recently?”

“I just got back from a massive trip to Tasmania. Before that, we were off to Fiji.”

“We? Who are we?”

“Some friends of mine. We always travel together, for surfing of course.” He was a beach bum. In a way, that explain why he had never been married. Over the next twenty minutes, Hudson told me about his surfing adventures. Surfing sounded like fun, but was far from anything that I had any remote interest in. It took everything in me to pay attention. Thankfully, we stopped in front of a small, stone building. “We’re here!”

“Where is here exactly?” I asked.

“This is the Shafton Inn and Pub. A family friend owns it. They have brilliant mushy peas and the best haggis you have ever had.” Oh god, two things I was not fond of. Blissany made me try haggis, and I threw up. Edward made me try mushy peas, and that also made me throw up. What had I gotten myself into?

“Oh, wow, uh, sounds terrific!” What a lie that was.

“I don’t suppose you’ll need help out of the carriage?” Hudson winked at me after he said that. Gunther got out first, followed by Hudson. They both offered me their hand. I wisely took Gunther’s and jumped out. “Nice jump! Have you ever tried any extreme sports?”

“No.” I’m the Queen of Gillingham, why would I be doing something so wreckless?

“You really should, keeps you looking young.” Hudson did not look thirty-nine, but I did not like what he was implying.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Gunther opened the heavy, double doors for us. I walked in to find that we would be the only ones there that night. Jaeger was already inside as were a few other of my bodyguards. The pub wasn’t anything to brag about, fairly standard; wood paneling, tacky green carpet, a bar with a lot of beer on tap and plenty of whiskey, cheap white table cloths and rickety, faux wood chairs.

Hudson pulled out my chair for me and then he sat across from me. A waiter approached us and handed us menus. Hudson “took the liberty” of ordering wine ahead of time because he wanted a wine that the pub didn’t normally carry. That really bugged me; I liked being able to think for myself, which included ordering my own wine. Even worse, when he leaned over to say that, he raised his eyebrows, as if he were trying to imply something else. I nodded to Jaeger, who nodded back, having already gotten the message from Gunther. The wine arrived and he insisted on testing it before hand. “Oy, trying to get hammered on the job there, old boy?” Jaeger did not seem to like that.

“As her majesty’s personal security, it is my duty and obligation to my lady that I see to it that she is safe at all times.” Jaeger said that with such tranquility. He pulled out a small box from his coat lapel. Jaeger took out a few test trips and a liquid dropper; the days of physically having to try food and drinks had long since been over. The waiter poured a sample of wine into a cup for him. Jaeger carefully placed samples on to the test strips. About thirty seconds later, Gunther had tackled Hudson onto the floor and was calling for the police to be rung. “Your majesty, this wine has been tainted.”

“I didn’t do it!” Hudson shouted while Gunther had him held down.

“Jaeger, with what?” I didn’t think that he was trying to kill me, but you never know.

“Rohypnol.”

“Roofies?” Gunther and I both shouted.

“Yes your majesty. I suspected this yesterday when we intercepted a cell phone call between his Lord and the proprietor of the inn.” I got up and walked straight to Hudson. I stood over him, trying to intimidate him, even though I was terribly short.

“What the hell did you think you would try to do?”

“Easy lay?” Gunther then sat him up and placed a zip tie around his wrists. He also laughed at Hudson’s assumption. Gunther was on of the very few people that knew I was a virgin.

“King Edward owes me a favor. I will see to it personally that you are stripped of your knight hood and that Jade Pilgrim, or any other matchmaker, will never, ever, work with you again.”

“You know they said you were an uptight swot, but I didn’t think you were a git too.” Queen or not, no one spoke to me that way. I slapped Hudson as hard as I could. Gunther smiled and then nodded me off. Jaeger escorted me out into a waiting car.

The following afternoon, I was to have a joint meeting with Edward, his Prime Minister and Callum. It seemed like it would be a bit of a relief to me, but after the night I had, I wondered what things would be like. I sat in the living room of my suite, staring at my breakfast. I was hungry, but didn’t have the stomach to eat. The door to the living room opened and shut, but I thought nothing of it tassuming that it was probably one of my ladies in waiting. A moment later, there was a hand in front of my face, holding a pumpkin muffin. “Lady Emma said you hadn’t touched your breakfast yet.” I turned around to see Callum.

“Thank you.” I took the muffin from him. “I had a bad night, I’m just still thinking about it.”

“Bad night? I heard you went on a date.” Callum shot me a look of confusion as he sat in the chair to my right.

“Hudson Whitcomb.”

“The Lord of Leaches?”

“Weird, now I get that. I saw that written in a gossip blog, but I thought it was nonsense, like a pissed ex or jilted date.”

“I guarantee you that whatever you read about him in those blogs was probably right.” I could feel my heart pounding. “My cousin went to school with him. He was a vile man back then, and I’m guessing that your date did not go well.”

“It was, uhm, yeah.” I set the muffin down on my plate and folded my hands in my lap.

“Henri, what happened? You can tell me.” Callum leaned in and place his hand on top of mine.

“It might be best if you didn’t know.” I couldn’t even bring myself to look him in the eyes when I said that.

“What could he have done that was so horrible that you can’t tell me?” I had become so lost in the thought that I hadn’t realized that I had begun crying. Callum placed a hand under my chin to lift my head up. “Henri, whatever it is, you can tell me.” I sniffled before speaking.

“He drugged the wine.”

“TO KILL YOU?” He looked absolutely horrified.

“No, to get into my pants.” Callum abruptly stood up and started pacing.

“You know, he was accused of raping a woman a few years back, but nothing ever came of it. That bastard. I could kill him myself!” I got up and grabbed Callum’s hands.

“Don’t. I was planning on telling Edward this afternoon. You know how his temper is, and I guarantee you that whatever Edward will do will be far worse than killing him. Besides, I would hate to visit you in jail.” Callum hugged me.

“I can’t believe that any man could be stupid enough to try that, especially with someone as precious as you.” He kissed the top of my head.

“When we get to the palace, let me have a moment with Edward first, ok?” Callum pushed me away to look at me.

“Please, let me be with you, I beg you!”

“Cal, no. Imagine what Prime Minister Moran would think. I have to speak to him alone, monarch to monarch.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Callum softly said.

“I told Hudson I wanted him striped of his knighthood.”

“Can the King do that?”

“I believe so. I’m not sure how he would go about that though.”

“And, you have the proof, right?”

“Jaeger tests everything that comes to me, you know this. He has the test strips and the bottle of wine.”

“Did he call the police?”

“Of course. He took me out of there but Gunther stayed.”

“Stay here.” Callum quickly left the living room. I sat back down and finally felt like eating, but I only ate the muffin he had given me. While I ate, quietly, Randolf came in to do my hair and makeup. I had told him and Uri the night before what had happened. Thankfully, Randolf had the good sense not to be too chatty with me at that moment.

Callum never returned to my room. I didn’t see him again until our meeting. I arrived at the palace to find that he was already there. There was a hustle of activity going on around him. Soon after my arrival, Prime Minister Moran came in. He and Callum were talking privately when Edward came in. Edward pulled me out of the room to talk to me. “Why did you not tell me last night after this happened?”

“He told you?”

“Actually no, Bliss keeps up with all the gossip blogs. Lord Whitcomb was photographed being taken into custody. Callum came here earlier and told Ray. He thought that telling him Prime Minister to Prime Minister might help. Seeing him here already, I questioned them, and they told me.”

“So they were right?”

“With those types of things, you can never be too sure.” I felt completely mortified. “I think it’s best if we postpone our meeting. Bliss is upstairs if you want to talk to her.”

“Thank you, but I think I would rather just have some tea.”

“Anything you want. Henrike, I promise, we will take care of this.” Edward’s butler took me into his private sitting room and brought me a pot of some herbal tea. I sat quietly, sipping my tea and looking out the window. It made me realize that I needed to be more careful about dating. I also wondered if asking a matchmaker for help had been the right thing.

An hour later, there was a knock at the door. It turned out to be Prime Minister Moran. He came in and sat down in the arm chair across from the small table where my tea pot was still sitting. “Lord Whitcomb was let go this morning.”

“Ok.” That didn’t surprise me. One his surfing buddies probably got him out. “But, he was arrested again after Prime Minister Greer told me what had happened. Your bodyguard Gunther happily gave the chief inspector all the evidence he needed to charge him.” I was stunned, but in a good way.

“Ray, thank you.”

“Your majesty, I do apologize for this.” He sounded completely sincere even though it wasn't his fault.

“It’s not your fault.”

“I know, but I feel as if someone should take some responsibility for that vile bastard.” We both laughed.

“Will he be stripped of his title?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“Do you know where Callum is?”

“I believe he is with King Edward right now. Would you like me to send for him?”

“Yes, please, I should speak with him.” He smiled and then got up to leave. A few minutes later, Callum came in. He stood in front of me for a moment before kneeling before me, and placed his hands on my knees.

“How are you? Really, please, don’t hold back. Are you alright?”

“Shaken, more than anything else. I guess it’s a good thing I have bodyguards, otherwise I would have been so screwed!” We both smiled.

“How can you be this calm?”

“I’ve been through worse.”

“You could have been raped. What’s worse than that?”

“Having to face your parents’ killer.” Callum took his hands back and stood up.

“I forgot that was coming up.” The assassin who had killed my parents had requested to meet with me, face to face, before his execution. I got up and walked towards Callum.

“Cal, all we can do right now is hope that Hudson is charged and jailed for a long time.” Callum put his hands in his pockets and looked down. When he looked back up, all I could see was the pain behind his eyes. “How could either one of us know this would happen?”

“I should be the one comforting you, not the other way around.”

“Cal, stop it. Right now, we need to just get through this and then put it behind us.” His face looked blank.

“Yes, your majesty.” It hurt to hear Callum say that and made me want to cry.

“Do you know what the process will be?” I asked.

“He is to be formally charged sometime this afternoon. They will need a statement from you, Gunther and Jaeger of course. After he is convicted, the proceedings to strip his title can begin.”

“Thank you.” Callum bowed then made his way out of the room. Shortly after, Lady Emma came in.

“Yes your majesty?”

“Please make arrangements for me to go home.”

“Yes your majesty. When would you like to fly to Gillingham?”

“No, not Gillingham, my parents’ house in Chicago.” Lady Emma looked a little shocked.

“Yes, of course your majesty, my apologies.” The next morning I gave my statement to an inspector. Several hours later, I was sitting comfortably on the large, red sofa with a cup of coffee and a good book in my parent’s living room. I only stayed for two days, but it was enough to clear my mind.

The Queen's Men, part 6

2011-05-15T20:39:00.002-04:00

6. Virginia Virgin, nice to meet you

October was nothing special. It was the same day to day business of a queen. The beginning of November marked the fall harvest festival. It was something I looked forward to. I had hoped that I would see Callum, but he was unable to attend and sent the Baron of Coronil in his place. After the Baron and I blessed the harvest, I chose to stay for just a short while. The fall festival always seemed like it would be more fun if you had someone special to share it with because of the romantic undertones it harvested (no pun intended). Thankfully, the next week, I was to have a meeting with Callum, the Chancellor and President. I thought it would be perfect opportunity to speak to him. I knew I needed to do something, but what that was, I wasn’t so sure of.

The night before the meeting, it snowed in Gillingham. Waking up to see a lovely white blanket of snow across the East lawn was thrilling. President Dallon and Chancellor Oya, the Baron of Sidoia, arrived very early, while I was outside with Uri making a snowman. As we were making our way inside, Callum pulled up to the castle. I noticed him the moment he got out of the car. Even bundled up in a long coat, gloves and a scarf, he still looked wonderful. He turned around and waved to me before he went inside. It was a quick wave that had no life to it. I felt disappointed.

Once back inside in my apartment, I quickly got out of my snow clothes and into a khaki pants suit. I had on a navy blue shirt with the suit and it reminded me of the necklace Callum had given me. Uri quickly found it in my jewelry box and I put it on. “Too much?” I asked.

“Not enough,” Uri said while looking at my suit, in a thoughtful manner.

“How is it not enough? I’m having a meeting with the President, Prime Minister and Chancellor.”

“Take off the shirt and put on that black, lacy tank top under it. Then unbutton some buttons so it can be like a peek-a-boo sort of thing. That will really get him to notice.”

“You do realize that the Baron is a bit of a perv, right?” Still, while we were talking, I was putting on the tank top.

“And you do realize that his term in office is halfway done, so you won’t have to worry.”

“Point taken.” I left the first three buttons open, put my jacket back on and took a quick look in the mirror. I let my hair down, and Uri gave me an approving nudge. I took one last look before heading out to my state office. The three men were already talking when I entered the room, but Callum was the first to notice me. The other two followed his lead and bowed. We all sat down, me behind me desk, and the three men at the chairs in front of my desk.

The first hour of the meeting was fine. The second hour was tedious and almost boring. The third hour was nearly painful and I was constantly fidgeting. Much to my surprise, Chancellor Oya suggested that we take a break. I got up to stretch my legs and look out of the office window at the pretty snow. I heard my office door open and close, assuming that the everyone had left.

“You’re wearing the necklace I gave you?” Callum asked. I spun around to find him standing to the right of my desk.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I? I told you that I liked it when you gave it to me.”

“It’s just...” Callum placed his hand on my desk and looked down. “Well, I thought... Well, I don’t know what I thought.”

“You thought that since I didn’t answer, it meant no.” He looked up at me. The pain in his eyes was as bright as the snow outside.

“I suppose, yes.” I walked over to Callum’s side and took his hand. He turned to face me, but his face still looked distraught.

“There are things you don’t know about me. They aren’t bad, but they are significant things which explain... a lot.”

“This all sounds very cryptic. What are you getting at?”

“I haven’t done some things, yet.”

“Things? Like what?” Admitting the truth, in this situation, was not something I wanted to do. I thought that maybe if I skirted around it, he would figure it out.

“I haven’t done, that, you know.” I looked down, then back up as I said "that."

“What is that?” Callum tried to mimic me.

“You know, it.” I locked my fingers together.

“Still not getting, it.” He copied me again.

“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?”

“I might have to because I really don’t get what you are trying to tell me.”

“You can’t be my first, because you’re so perfect and so right for me, but what if something goes wrong, and then I’ll hate myself, and you’ll hate yourself, and then it will turn into this big mess and...” Callum held up his hand and cut me off.

“First boyfriend?” He was so far off it was almost funny.

“No.” I looked down. I was too scared to even look at Callum.

“Henri, your first what exactly?” I looked up to find that Callum looked frightened and concerned. I felt sick when I saw that.

“I’ve never, you know, with a man.” He had that deer in head lights look after I told him.

“So, you’re a... a, uh...”

“Virgin,” I whispered. Callum took a forced gulp and then took several steps back. He suddenly looked how I felt, pale and wary.

“I’m going to go get some water before we resume.” He quickly left room. I sat back down in the desk chair to stare out of the window again.

The following hour of the meeting, I couldn’t help but notice that Callum still looked shaken from my admission. The last few guys I had told this to tried to take it as an opportunity. Callum didn’t though, and it surprised me, but in a good way. When we broke for lunch, he seemed to make it point to sit far away from me. I wanted to talk to him, but I had a feeling that I needed to let him come to me. When the meeting broke for dinner several hours later, I just couldn’t take it anymore and decided to take matters into my own hand.

As we were leaving my office, I stumbled behind, grabbed Callum and took him into the nearest private passage. The “secret hallways” were dimly lit and cramped in most spots. It could be considered by some to be very intimate. “Are you ok?” I asked him.

“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Even underneath the poor lighting, I could tell that he was still upset.

“I unloaded a huge, personal secret. After I told you, you looked sick. I felt sick though, so I doubt it could be that bad." I was trying to ease the situation.

“You looked sick too, but I wasn’t about to say that.” Maybe that was what made him look sick too?

“Uri thinks that’s why I make such horrible decisions when it comes to men. She says I’m 'so backed up’ that it clouds my judgement.” Callum took a step back to lean against the wall. He sunk his face into his hands, then pushed his perfect hair back.

“I’m flattered that you told me that. I guess that means you trust me. That wasn’t what shocked me.” I positioned myself in front of Callum, inches away from him. Suddenly, I felt sick again.

“Most people, when they find out I’m still a virgin, that’s what shocks them. So if that isn’t it, what the hell is?”

“That I was actually right.” I took a step back.

“Right about what?” Callum stood up, and took a step away from the wall, towards me.

“For the longest time, I always had such a hard time being able read women’s signals. The whole day, I thought you maybe liked me, but then I thought that can’t be right. After what happened at the club, I thought you hated me.” I looked down at my hands and took a step in.

“I don’t hate you; I was afraid.” Callum brought my left hand up and kissed it. He lingered over my hand before he looked up at me.

“What do we now?” He asked.

“Nothing.” Stunned at my statement, Callum abruptly dropped my hand.

“Nothing? How can we do nothing?” He sounded upset.

“Because the Earl of Faustus is also the Prime Minister. I can’t ask you to give up your political ambitions.” Callum turned away from me.

“Is that your real reason?”

“It’s part of my reasoning." In reality, I was doing what I always did with the "good" ones, and like always, was vehemently denying it in my head.

“And the other part would be because you’re a virgin?”

“That too.” Callum turned around and stood so close to me. I could feel his warm breath on my skin in the cold hallway.

“And because you’re scared?” His stare was fixated upon my face. Callum’s eyes were so blue, and I found myself becoming lost in them. The moment I found out that I was the Queen of Gillingham, I became overtly aware of my emotions and feelings and learned to hide them at all costs. However, the moment I met Callum, it became difficult to keep them in check. Standing so close to him was quickly unraveling my tightly wound barrier. “What on earth are you scared of?”

“Things you couldn’t even begin to understand.”

“Try me.” Callum stepped back and I noticed that he had clenched fists at his sides.

“You have no clue what it’s like to be in my shoes, so how could you possibly understand?”

“I can never know what it is like to be in your shoes. That, you are right on. But, I can listen.” Callum grabbed my hands and looked at me for a moment. My carefully constructed wall was moments away from being demolished. He stepped back in and hugged me. A flood of emotions overcame me. Not knowing what else to do, I began sobbing. Callum sat and brought me with him, into his lap. He held me while I cried and rubbed my back. Eventually, I was able to reel it in and bring myself back to some sense of normalcy.

“I’m so sorry, I don’t know where that came from.” Callum wiped my eyes with his fingers and then offered me a handkerchief he pulled out from his jacket.

“You don’t like dating because you don’t open yourself up to people.” How was it that I still barely knew him, yet he knew me so well?

“I can’t afford to do that.”

“So what, you can’t afford to get hurt? Show the real you to a guy? Risk having your heart broken in front of your country?”

“All of it and more.” Callum brought my head back to his chest. Having my head rubbed by his manly hands was soothing.

“You do realize that the solution is so simple.” I popped back up to look Callum square in the eyes.

“Please, enlighten me,” I said in a sarcastic tone.

“Confidentiality agreement.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your personal life is only your countrymen’s business once you chose who to marry. So, until then, make anyone you date sign a confidentiality agreement.” Why hadn’t I thought of that?

“Cal, that’s so brilliant it’s genius!”

“I never did understand that phrase you know.” We laughed and then got up. “Where exactly do these hallways go to? I’ve never been in them.”

“All over the castle. My apartment, the kitchen, one of the ballrooms and there’s a few tunnels that lead out to various locations all over the palace grounds.”

“Do all castles have secret hallways?”

“I’m not sure, but I would assume that most do.”

“So, how would you get to your apartment from here?” I motioned for Callum to follow me. We went to the end of the hall and took a right. At the middle of the next hallway was a small, circular staircase. At the top of the stairs, we took another right to head down that hallway, followed by another right. Halfway through that hall, I opened the door that lead took us into the spare closet in my apartment. “My living room isn’t even as big as this closet is.”

“Sorry. Randolph insisted that I have huge closets when my apartment was remodeled.”

“What did it take away room from?” Callum questioned.

“My bedroom, but I didn’t really care either way. I just wanted a huge tub with jets, which I got. Come on.” As we walked out of my closet, I waved so whoever watching the cameras would see me and know I was back in my apartment.

“Why did you just wave?”

“Wow, Cal, you really are clueless. I waved at whoever is in the surveillance room. They’ll let Gunther know I’m up here.”

“Are there cameras... Everywhere?” I had a feeling he would ask that.

“Almost. My bathrooms and bedrooms don’t, for privacy of course. The ‘public’ bathrooms do have them, but you can’t see into the stalls of course and in the men’s bathrooms, you can’t see the urinals either.”

“Oh, that’s a huge relief. That would have been weird if they could.” We made our way into my bathroom and I brought Callum over to my amazing tub.

“See, big and it has jets. It’s my second favorite thing about my apartment.”

“What’s the first?”

“My bed. It’s so soft, warm and comfortable. I imagine that if you could sleep on a cloud, it might feel like my bed does. Plus, there’s a fireplace in my bedroom. So on days like today when it’s cold and there’s snow on the ground, it makes the palace seem so magical. Granted, the couch I have in front of it does add to the comfort of it, just a little bit.” If anything else, my bedroom was my sanctuary.

“Don’t you have a fireplace in your library or guest bedrooms?”

“I do, in all. There’s one in my dining room as well and of course you know there is one in the living and sitting rooms.”

“Why on earth do you have so many fireplaces?”

“They’re original to the palace. Remember, Lyon Palace was completed in 1282, back in the day when central air wasn’t exactly available.” Callum chuckled and I got a glimpse again at his amazing smile. He had the sort of smile that could make women and gay men melt like an ice cube on a summer day sitting in the sun.

“It’s been remodeled and added on to since then of course.”

“Yes, it has, but there were many things that were better off left untouched, like the fireplaces, which I suspect should be lit by now.”

“Really? So fast?” Callum sounded surprised.

“Did you not notice my butler when he walked past the bathroom just now? He was coming from my bedroom, which means that fireplace is lit. He wouldn’t be lighting the dining room, so that means the living room should be next. Come on, we’ll go enjoy it.” Callum took his time while we walked through the large hallway. I think that he might have thought it would look different. There was very little that I had done during the remodel. The only real thing that was done was the closet expansion and tub installation.

“Who is this?” We stopped in the hallway just a few steps shy of the living room door. Callum was pointing to an old painting.

“King Franco.”

“Ah. I should have known; you have the same shade of blue in your eyes.”

“Thank you?”

“Was that a question?” Callum asked.

“No, sorry. It’s just... you’re the third person to notice that. Queen Astrid was the first to point that out, the first time she saw the painting as well and Uri noticed it next.” Franco and I were distant relatives, but then again, anyone could have blue eyes.

“It’s so different though. Your eyes look like the aquamarine on your neck. I’ve never seen that. I mean, I have blue eyes, but I have boring blue eyes. You know, the same shade of blue that a lot of people seem to have who have blue eyes.” I liked his eyes though. He was right, they were a standard shade of blue, but the difference between his blue eyes and many others was the fact that behind his eyes was so much life, passion and soul.

“I like your eyes though. They are unique, they’re yours.” I put my hand on Callum’s shoulder. He reached up to place his hand on top of mine. Callum then turned his head to look at me and smiled. I returned the smile.

“I’m sure you hear this all the time, but you really do have a beautiful smile.” I could feel my face turn flaming red.

“I have crooked teeth.” Callum turned to face me, and grabbed my shoulder to turn me to face him.

“You have one, small, crooked tooth, and I think it gives you character.”

“I have freakishly small ears, a lump on my nose, freckles in odd places and crooked toes. Oh, and I have a stupid tattoo!” Callum looked extremely confused once I told him that.

“Really? I would have never pegged you as the tattoo type.”

“I did several things before I got hauled off to boarding school. I thought it would stop my parents. Of course, now I know why they sent me off. At the time, I thought I had done something wrong and was being punished, so I lashed out. I started small, I dyed my hair black.”

“Black? I don’t know if I could picture you with black hair.”

“It looked awkward, to say the least.” I did not look like myself with black hair. There were times when I looked at myself in the mirror and couldn't even see myself with it.

“Then the tattoo?” Callum crossed his arms and had a sudden look of intrigue on his face.

“Sadly, no. I got a couple piercings next, then the tattoo.” He raised an eyebrow.

“Piercings? As in plural?”

“Yes, as in plural. Why are you suddenly so interested?”

“This is a whole other side to you that I had no clue about.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, a lot.”

“Do you have an evil twin sister? A pet rat named Nimm?” I laughed.

“No. I have two fish named Aurora and Ryburn.”

“After your parents.” Callum dropped his arms and looked nearly stunned.

“Kitra gave me a set of fish when I was in college. They were angelfish. I named the pearl colored one Aurora and the black one Ryburn. They died just recently and she replaced them with leafy sea dragons.”

“You are not the person the public perceives you as, are you?” The public, at least the Gillish people, saw me as the Queen.

“Well, I guess I am, to certain point of course.”

“Misguided youth, secret life and who knows what else. Anything else I should know about?”

“I almost went to Yale instead of Cornell.”

“Trivia.” Callum crossed his arms again.

“Come on, let’s go sit in front of a nice warm fire.” The fireplace in my living room was surrounded by two, suede, blue couches and a suede, burgundy love seat. It was exceptionally nice when I had friends over. With it being just Callum and me, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I was still unsure of what exactly was going on between us. Of course, he took a seat on the left side of the love seat. I sat to the far right, as far I could possibly sit in that situation.

We sat in silence for a moment. One of my ladies in waiting came in and asked if we wanted anything. I asked for tea. Callum asked for the same. I suggested that we share a pot, as long as he didn’t mind pomegranate-mango-lemon tea. He obliged, surprisingly. “I’d love to try it. It sounds good.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously!” I brought my left leg up onto the couch and turned to face Callum.

“I’m not so sure that you would like it. It's a little girly.”

“It’s tea, how awful can it be if you like it?”

“Fine, suit yourself. But, when you make a funny face, I’ll only say ‘I told you so!’”

“You know, we sort of left President Dallon and Chancellor Oya hanging back there. Shouldn’t we join them for dinner?” Callum said.

“We probably should, you’re right. What do we tell them though, you know, where we’ve been?” Callum place his hand on my knee.

“Anything but the truth.” I placed my hand a top of his and stared at it for a moment.

“I finally understand what you meant that night. You’re right though.” Callum took his hand back and looked down at his lap.

“I would never, I could never ask you to give up anything, especially for me. You have your own ambitions, and I have my own. Please, let me set you up with someone for your inauguration ball next week.”

“As you wish, your majesty.” Callum stood up and went to stand in front of the fire. I couldn’t see his face, but I guessed that he had a solemn look on it from the tone of voice. “Just have them meet me here so that I can enter with her.”

“Don’t you want to know who it is?”

“It’s not important.” Callum placed a hand on the mantel and leaned in a little.

“She’s just an escort for the evening.” I felt hurt. Not knowing what else to do, I joined him in front of the fire.

“You can’t sulk like this, it’s not right.”

“What’s not right is the fact that I love you so much yet we barely know each other.” Callum turned to face me. He grabbed my arms. “What’s not right is that I want you more than anything else in the world. What’s not right is that I can’t even have you!” He kissed me, hard, yet passionately. A split second later, Lady Elena knocked to bring in our tea. I quickly pushed Callum away, but once she had left, I was the one who initiated the next kiss. My body felt so light and my head was spinning, yet it felt right, like it was meant to be. Callum pushed me away. “We should have our tea and then join the President and Chancellor. We will tell them we were discussing my inauguration ball.”

“Uh, sure.” Callum picked up his tea saucer and gulped down it down. He gave me a kiss on the cheek and then abruptly left my apartment.

The Queen's Men, part 5

2011-05-05T09:34:00.001-04:00

5. Hot men, dyed hair and awkward pauses

The next few days were the same, ordinary, day-to-day activities of the monarch of Gillingham. Political meetings with presidents of other countries, good will visits to local businesses and charities, and a brief trip to Norway to thank their Queen again for their involvement in the war against Ratascont. It was during that visit that I had an epiphany.

My first visit with Queen Astrid was strange, but a good one. She was very chatty, but more on a personal level than a political one. Our second meeting, she came to Gillingham and we got to know each other some more. It was a lovely visit, and we’ve been good friends ever since. Even Uri has become friends with her. “So, enough about business. Uri was telling me that you saw Jade Pilgrim. Spill!”

“Well, supposedly, she has quite a few matches for me. We should be getting a disk with them on it today or tomorrow.” I was not looking forward to it.

“Oh, how exciting! So, you get to like, go through them and pick and choose?”

“I guess so. I don’t really know what we’re supposed to do with it. Well, I mean, I do, but this just feels so wrong. I feel like I'm being sent a menu of men.”

“Uri said that you said one of the picks you had heard about was Sir Thurston. Is it true?” It was so like Astrid to be nosy.

“Yeah, but he has a giant unibrow.”

“But if you get past that, he’s super dreamy.” Astrid had been married for several years. I believe that she was enjoying this because back in the day, she dated around, a lot, and was known for it. It was a big surprise when she finally settled down, but her husband, Nils, was so perfect for her.

“Jade said she could get him to fix it, and I hope she does.”

“Oh my God, imagine how hot he would be without that bush!” Astrid spilled her cup of tea when she said that. She had a tendency to get excited over trivial things like this. “You have got to let me help you go through them.”

“How about I let you, Uri and Kitra go through them for me.”

“Oh no, I doubt Kitra would let you off that easy. We’ll glue you to a chair if we have to.”

“Franz said the same thing. Weird.” I had a feeling there was more to it than met the eye.

“Franz might have mentioned it to me.” Of course Franz would take advantage of our friendship, for his sanity, I think.

The next day, Astrid flew home with me. The disk of possible matches had long since arrived. Franz had the screening room set up so that we could view them all. Randolf decided to sit it out, so that left just us girls, and Franz. Sure enough, Sir Keelan Thurston was in the dossier, but with new eyebrows. Astrid was right, he was hot now! Also in the list was Duke of Catta, Hudson Whitcomb. The photo on his profile was him on the beach, holding a surf board. I couldn’t take my eyes off of his washboard abs (Kitra was right!). There were just so many men to choose from, almost too many. “Alright, your majesty, what would be your top five picks?” Franz asked.

“Hudson Whitcomb, Christopher Wesley, Keelan Thurston, Teddy Sherwood and Winchell Broderick.”

“Christopher has no title, so that might be hard. But, he is British, so we could call in a favor with the King of England, but that could have strings with it. So, how about one more, just in case?”

“Carlo Gianni?”

“Gay!” Gunther shouted from the back of the room.

“Ok, then Harmon Varick.”

“Oh, I met him last year King Rick’s birthday ball. He has a bit of a lisp, but is super dreamy,” Astrid said. Kitra chimed in on her thoughts as well.

“He is a bit of a hottie, your majesties. But, I think Teddy is a good choice.”

“Oh yes, he is. You know, I just gave him his lordship a few years ago. He’s very cordial,” Astrid said. “Although I do agree with Kitra, Hudson is a bit of a hottie.”

“Hudson looks like trouble just waiting to happen,” Uri said. I had a feeling she was right, which strangely made me want to pursue him.

“Alright, so now what?” I asked.

“We call Jade, let her know of your choices, and she’ll arrange for the dates.” Franz said while already dialing Jade. He was on the phone with her for about five minutes. All of my choices were listed off, and there were then several uh huh’s muttered from Franz before he said good bye and hung up the phone. “Your majesty, Ms. Jade will be calling me back shortly with the times and places of your dates.”

“Already?”

“Yes, of course. What did you think was going to happen?”

“I don’t know. I guess I thought it would take a few days, and then maybe another week before anything. This is happening awfully fast, don’t you think?” Franz looked down. I looked at Uri who looked away. Astrid just shrugged when I looked at her. Kitra, just like Franz, looked down and said nothing. “Thanks guys, thanks!” I said trying to sound as annoying as possible. “So what now?”

“Makeovers!” Astrid shouted. Uri rolled her eyes, but then sent a text message to Randolf who came up to whisk us all away a few minutes later. This was not how I wanted to spend my day off. However, another advantage to being Queen was having my own personal spa, right in the palace. It wasn’t anything grand, but more of a thing of safety and convenience. Uri, Astrid and I made our way up there, where Randolf had everything already waiting for us. Astrid brought her laptop with her to take care of business and Uri had her phone with her, no doubt to check emails.

Things were going well, until Kitra interrupted. “Your majesty, your first date will be tonight."

“WHAT?” We all shouted.

“What do you mean my first date is tonight? Kitra, how is that possible?”

“Winchell Broderick is the Earl of Naughton.”

“As in the county Naughton, right here in Gillingham? He’s Gillish? How did I not realize this?”

“He was at the coronation ball, Henri. I think you might have even danced with him,” Uri said. How was it that she remembered and not me?

“It’s three right now; Naughton is on the other side of the country. That’s like a two hour drive with the bridges, or more if he runs into traffic in Caffie or if the bridge at Cricket is out again.”

“He owns a plane,” Kitra said. “And he knows how to fly it.”

“He’s flying here? Oh, how romantic!” Astrid exclaimed. I was beginning to wonder if her husband was a romantic dud.

“But tonight, I mean really? We’re about to get facials and I can’t wear makeup after getting a facial.”

“Hush, you don’t need one. You have the pores of a baby,” Randolf stated. “All you really need is a quick mud mask and those nails done up.”

“Kitra, do I really have to?” I was hoping there was a way I could get out of this. My discussion with Callum had stuck in my head; my thoughts kept going back to him.

“You need to. You know you need to. Am I right girls?” Uri and Astrid nodded in agreement.

“How bad can it be? It’s just a date,” Randolf said. “I mean worst case scenario, the guy turns out to be a dud. At least he’s a hottie, so you’ll have some nice eye candy for the evening.”

“Well, if these men don’t work out, there’s always more,” Kitra said in a sing-song voice.

“There were a lot of losers in the dossier, so I doubt it.”

“Oh, Jade didn’t send them all over. This was just the first round. There are plenty more.” Before I could yell at her, Kitra quickly ran out of the spa; it was as if she knew I would be upset.

Randolf, Uri and Astrid had fun dressing me up for my date. It almost seemed as if I was being dressed for a state function (which of all the things, I was actually use to). When they were done with me, I looked respectable, but sexy at the same time, which was surprising considering that I had relinquished all control to them. I was put in a knee length, form fitting, sleeveless, royal blue dress. The best part of the dress was the fact that it covered it my chest. My breasts weren’t huge, but they were big enough to get in the way at times, and I much preferred to cover them up.

While we were in my dressing room doing my makeup, Kitra came in to let us know that the Earl had just landed and was on his way in to go through security. Up until that point, I was pissed. After hearing that he was here, actually here at my castle, I got nervous, but only for a moment. Astrid was in the middle of a very odd pep talk that I was desperately trying to tune out. She said something about not giving out the goodies on a first date and not to overdo it when reapplying lip gloss.

I took my time putting on my shoes and picking out a sweater. There was a part of me that hoped he would be so wonderful that he would turn out to be the man of my dreams, my future husband. That would be too easy though, especially considering that he was Gillish. The future spouse of the monarch of Gillish had to get the Senate’s approval before they could ask for their hand in marriage. A Gillish Earl would almost guarantee their approval.

After one last look in the mirror, I made my way out to my sitting room, where Winchell was being held. He was standing nervously, by an armchair, holding a bouquet of cyclamens. He looked just as handsome in person as he did in his profile picture. Winchell was wearing a dark grey, double breasted suit with a pale blue shirt and a lovely navy, silk tie with a pair of black Prada loafers. Winchell was very tall, about six foot five, tan skin, brown eyes and brown hair that looked like it was dyed to cover something. When he saw me, he bowed. “Your majesty, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Winchell said while offering his hand to me. I gave my hand, and he kissed it.

“Like wise.”

“I hope you don’t mind, but I brought you some flowers. I believe I read somewhere that cyclamen’s are your favorite.” He held the flowers out and I took them.

“Queen Astrid, of Norway, who is a good friend of mine, loves cyclamens.” Winchell looked mortified.

“Oh god! Oh god! I am so sorry! You must think I am a complete ass!” I thought he was a fool for not reading closely. I realized what he had read; a transcript of an interview where I was asked about my relationship with Astrid and Uri. I was, oddly, asked about our favorite flowers. Whenever I held anything that Astrid or Uri would be attending, I always made sure to have their favorite flowers around; they were my two best gal pals.

“No, I don’t, but I do appreciate the gesture, which was very kind of you.” I smiled, and he smiled back.

“Well, I hope you don’t mind, but I planned a little date for us.”

“No, I don’t mind at all. I hope I’m dressed appropriately for it.”

“Your majesty, you are dressed perfectly,” Winchell said, with a sly grin. I immediately became suspicious.

“Please, call me Henrike, we’re on a date.”

“Yes, Henrike. Please forgive me if I slip.”

“So, tell me, where are we headed to?” Winchell offered me his arm to lead me out of the sitting room.

“I assume you’re comfortable with flying?”

“Yes, of course. Why?”

“Are you comfortable with me flying you somewhere?” Gillingham was approximately 150 miles West of Portugal. Ratascont was off limits for the obvious reasons (with the current civil war going on there), so Portugal did seem like the obvious choice.

“Well, maybe. Did you clear it with Franz and Kitra?”

“Yes. Gunther and Jaeger will be coming with us.” The suspicion was starting to sink in.

“Oh, really?”

“Henrike, you look surprised,” Winchell said, trying to sound concerned, but failing miserably.

“I am, very much so, actually.” We were halfway down the main corridor at that point. Winchell stopped; I didn’t stop until I noticed he was not by my side anymore.

“When Jade acquires new clients that could be a potential match for you, she informs you. I was simply told that she had found someone who was Gillish, so I should be prepared for a date with this woman.” I made a face that showed confusion and anger. “Oh please don’t make that face, you look so ugly!”

“What?” I was so put off by his comment.

“Sorry, wrong word. You look, so, dreadful.”

“A little better. Continue.” I crossed my arms and put on a stern face. Winchell approached me and put his hands on my shoulders.

“I didn’t know it was you. I assumed it was someone of note. I told Jade that I preferred a woman with a title, someone my parents would approve of.” Winchell spoke softly when he said that. I was a little relieved when he told me that. I dropped my arms.

“Are we going to Portugal?”

“No, better.” Winchell took my hand and led me outside where there was a car waiting to take us to the runway. The palace airfield was on the other side of the estate grounds. I assumed to pull up to the airfield and find something small. Much to my surprise, there was a mid-sized jet waiting for us.

“You fly that?”

“No, I fly something much smaller. That plane belongs to my family. I’m borrowing it for the night.”

“You must have a really nice family to let you borrow that.” He laughed. We pulled up to the plane, and Winchell assisted me out of the car. Looking at the size of the jet, I thought that we might be going a little further than Portugal.

The flight was short, but it afforded us some time to talk. I learned that Winchell had two younger sisters and a twin brother who died in a car wreck when they were younger. I also found out that Winchell’s Father fought under King Rutherford’s rule in the Royal Brigade. He was killed in action during the first hit on Ratascont. Our conversation was mute for a while after he told me that. Talks picked back up when we were brought tea. Still, it remained awkward, and nearly strained. It felt like we had run out of things to talk about. I resorted to asking him what sort of foods he liked to eat, if he had allergies, and at one point, I even asked him what his favorite color was- I was so bored.

After we had been airborne for an hour, I grew restless. I wanted to know where we were going for dinner. “Really, are you going to tell me or what?”

“We’re almost there.”

“Where is there?”

“Marseille, of course!”

“France? Really? I mean, we could have just driven up to Tien, which is also seaside.”

“People would have recognized you. We’ll have more privacy in Marseille.” I was glad that Winchell had thought of that. Of course, if we had stayed in Gillingham, people would have seen us and who knows what might have been printed about us.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right there.”

“Don’t worry. We’re going to a little place right by the port. It’s quiet, but has amazing food.”

“What if I had been someone else, would you still be taking me here?” I asked.

“Yes. Jade said plan a date, so I did.”

“Is this something you do with all the girls?” Winchell raised an eyebrow and said nothing for the remainder of the flight. Shortly after, we landed just outside of Marseille where a car took us to the restaurant off of the port.

I had been to France many times, but never Marseille. I thought it was a shame I wouldn’t have a chance to see much of the city. Like so much of France, what we drove by was beautiful. There was a mixture of old, classic buildings with new, modern architecture; it was a delicate balance that was beautifully achieved. The soft shades of tan and terra cotta that graced the old structures complimented the bright, vibrant colors of the new structures.

We pulled up to a pier, but there was no restaurant, simply a row of boats. “I thought you said we were eating off of the port?”

“We are.” We got out of the car and walked down the pier. At the end was a large, white boat. “That’s it.”

“The restaurant?” I was a little surprised, and almost shocked, but glad that we would be able to dine privately. I thought that was one less thing to worry about.
We boarded the boat and were escorted to a private area inside the cabin. On the outside, the boat looked simple, but on the inside, it was very grand. The room we were in had maple paneling, gold and forest green carpet, intricate mini-chandeliers, a large oak table and matching, oversized chairs. Once we were seated, we were served a luscious Cabernet and oat bread, already buttered.

“Do you mind if I ask why?”

“Why what?” I was a little confused by Winchell’s question.

“Why did you hire Jade?” Winchell asked.

“It’s a long, complicated story that I would rather not get into right now.” Most people would hear a statement like that and drop the subject; not Winchell.

“I hired her to find a wife. Don’t you want a husband?”

“I don’t ‘want a husband,’ I want to find the man who is meant for me.”

“So, why Jade?” Wow, he was dense. New subject.

“Have you ever been to Palma? They have the most divine seaside restaurants and amazing beaches.”

“Why are you avoiding my question?” I stood up before I spoke to make a point.

“Can you not take a hint? I don’t want to talk about it. I barely know you, so how can I even trust you?” Winchell got up, grabbed me, and tried to kiss me! I slapped him and then quickly left the boat, with Gunther and Jaeger in tow. I was thankful that the boat had not yet left.

The ride back to the airport was silent. A small plane was waiting for us to return to Gillingham. After we took off, Gunther asked what happened. I told him, and he got that look in his eyes; the sort of look that seemed like he wanted to hurt Winchell. “I could always do something to him when he gets back, you know.”

“Thank you Gunther, but that won’t be necessary.” Gunther leaned forward in his seat to whisper to me.

“No man should ever try and kiss you without your consent.” When Gunther was trying to be nice, he usually tried a little too hard. This time though, he said what I needed to hear.

“Are you happy? I mean, are you and Alex happy?” I questioned.

“I’ve been with him for nearly twelve years. I’ll let you be the judge of that.”

“Just because you’ve been with someone for that long doesn’t mean you are happy.” Gunther sat back and took a deep breath before he spoke again.

“Alex is my air.”

“And you can’t live without air; I get it.” Gunther smiled. “You knew my parents of course. Did they seem happy to you?”

“They did.” I thought they were, but hearing that from Gunther felt reassuring. I wanted that sort of happiness, but needed to figure out how to find it being in my position.

I fell asleep on the plane and woke up once again in my own bed the next morning. I told Kitra what had happened and told her that we needed to screen my future dates with more caution. Thankfully, I did not have another date for several months.

Quickie update

2011-04-13T09:29:00.001-04:00

Hello blog land, how are you on this glorious hump day?! It can't be too bad, especially seeing as how the weekend is not that far off. I haven't posted any updates in a while, so one was long over due.

The first order of business, my little mini series. What started out as six parts has long since grown into more than double that (try 20 parts). I'm not the best at writing short stories (I need to work on that!). I'm still going to post the full story, but just realize that there will some extra stuff to love. That means that the posts will start coming more often. I hope that I can wrap it up by the end of the year. I promise you though, it's worth the read, and you will be satisfied with the story line.

Next up, the foodie blog. For those of you who did not know, in a previous life, I was a chef (I still technically am). For the past four years, I have been working on a cookbook. The cookbook still has a few more years worth of work to be done on it, but I did decide to start a blog to post recipes from my pet project. I will not post all of the recipes, but instead have chosen to post recipes that are favorites amongst my friends and family. I will also, in the future, start taking request for recipes. The title of this blog/cookbook is How to Cook Like a Bad@$$ and I will get around one of these days to explaining it.

In the mean time, it will be a long time before I update again (apart from posting The Queen's Men). We are finally on the downhill side of this deployment- the end is in sight, yay! This has been one of the hardest deployments to date. This article explains it better than I can. Needless to say, the Google alert I set up on my husband's sub a long time ago began blowing up my email just a few weeks ago with dozens upon dozens of articles about what they were doing in that part of the world. It's been hard, but it comes with the territory.

If you made it through this boring update, good for you, you deserve a cookie! In the mean time, back to editing!

The Queen's Men, part 4

2011-04-11T12:29:00.000-04:00

4. A night on the town

I looked up to see a bright sun and no clouds. I was wearing a sky blue, sleeveless, knee length summer dress. I jumped up from the soft grass and took off running down a hill filled with wildflowers. It was windy, and the willow tree at the bottom of the hill gently rustled in the cool breeze. I dipped my feet into the quiet pond when I heard a noise from a group of reeds nearby. Still in the pond, I quietly walked over. Callum popped out and shouted, “BOO!” I jumped.

“You startled me, you silly man!”

“Oh, my precious, I am so sorry, I did not mean to!” He came out of the reeds to stand in front of me and took my hands. “Will you ever forgive me for being so foolish?” I placed one of my hands on his cheek.

“Only if you kiss me.” I looked down to try and play coy.

“A kiss, that’s all it will take, my dear?” Callum lifted my chin up and I saw his amazing smile when I looked up.

“Oh no, not just any kiss. You have to give me the best kiss you have ever given any woman; the best kiss in the world!”

“My dear lady, that is an awfully big request to make. But, for you, I would do anything.” Callum took a step closer to me and placed one of his hands on my cheek. The other hand he placed on my lower back. He was just about to kiss me when he said, “wake up goof troop.”

I opened my eyes only to have my dream ruined. Uri was sitting next to me and Randolf was sitting at the foot of the bed. “Thanks for ruining my dream, punks.”

“Honey, we needed to wake you up before you went any further,” Randolf said.

“Huh?”

“What Tweedle Dee is trying to say, you still talk in your sleep,” Uri said, in an annoyed tone.

“Oh crap, do I really?”

“Yeah.” Uri even looked annoyed.

“So, who was the hunk in the dream?” Randolf asked.

“No one.”

“Doesn’t sound like it. It sounds like you were about to get hot and heavy with Mr. Hottie-hot-hot.”

“Shut up!” I threw a pillow at Randolf, but he ducked and it missed.

“So, drinks with the PM and his cronies?” Uri asked.

“They’re not cronies. I don’t even know who they are. I told him to just meet us here with his friends.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Uri sounded concerned, but she always sounded concerned when it came to me and any man. I didn't exactly have the best track record.

“It’s harmless. Besides, with Randolf over here, you’ll be guaranteed that I’ll look great.” Randolf was not only my best guy friend, but he was also my hair, makeup and clothing stylist, and the best one there was too (and he was never afraid to tell me that my butt looked big in something).

“She’s right.” He said, while looking at Uri with a smug look.

“If you put her in anything remotely skanky, I will totally beat your ass.” Uri and Randolf began to bicker. They always had such differing opinions when it came to my best interests. So, instead of getting caught up in it, I quietly got out of bed and went to the bathroom. While I was brushing my teeth, Randolf slipped in past me to get into my closet and Uri sat on the counter next to the sink I was standing in front of. “So, now that he’s gone, who was the dream about?”

“Some guy who I met earlier,” I mumbled through the mouth full of tooth paste.

“Was he cute?” I nodded my head yes. “Tall?” I spit out the tooth paste.

“What is it with you and tall guys?”

“You know that short guys creep me out. Why do you think Randolf has always seemed odd to me?”

“Randolf is five foot ten; I hardly think that qualifies as short.”

“He’s below six foot, so I think it does.” Uri crossed her arms. When she did that, it meant game on. I quickly changed the subject.

“So, you’re coming with me tonight, right?”

“Do I look like I am?” She did; she was wearing clubbing clothes- a low cut, sleeveless, silver shirt with a short black skirt and knee high black boots with four inch heels.

“Sorry, stupid question.” Sometimes, Uri liked to dress provocatively just to prove a point.

“Touché!” Uri uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on the bathroom counter where she was still sitting.

“He’s nice though.”

“Who, the guy?”

“Callum.”

“Oh, we’re back to talking about the Prime Minister.”

“He really is nice.” I really did believe that Callum was nice, even though I barely knew him.

“I thought we were just going out for drinks?”

“We are. But, I did ask him where the hot spots were. I thought it would be nice for us to just get out.” Randolf came out of the closet holding a turquoise colored dress.

“Oh no, Henri looks available when she wears that dress,” Uri said while shaking her head no. The dress was on the short side, skin tight and strapless.

“Exactly, she’ll look totally fab in it!” Randolf sounded a little too chipper when he said that. “You said not to make her look like a slut, and this is not that.”

“Ray, that dress barely covers my ass!” If I bent over, the whole world would be able to see my goodies.

“Oh honey, be quiet and just put it on. You wouldn’t know hot if it slapped you across the face.” I did credit Randolf for being named best dressed the past summer. He picked out everything I wore to every event, senate meeting- everything! Well, almost everything.

“Don’t do it,” Uri said while leaning towards me.

“Ok, what else?” She was right; I would have been fidgeting the whole night if I wore that dress. Randolf went back into my closet and emerged with something more suitable. He held up a black, knee length strapless dress. The sides were cut out to make a zig-zag pattern that cut into the stomach and back. You could almost see my tattoo when I wore that dress. “That one!” Uri and I both shouted.

While Randolf was doing my hair and Uri was helping with my makeup, Gunther came in to let us know that Callum and his friends had arrived and passed through security. Randolf decided to bring up something that I would have rather left unsaid. “So, I saw the new Prime Minister on TV the other day. He’s kind of hot you know.”

“I guess so,” I said, trying not to care.

“Well, you’ve met him in person, isn’t he cute?”

“Maybe. I mean he’s alright.” I was terrific at bluffing, at least to Randolf. Uri knew and shot me an “uh huh, sure,” sort of look and then winked at me.

“Well, he sure is better looking than the last guy you dated.”

“Can we not talk about him, please?”

“He’s right, Henri. The last guy was so, not, hot,” Uri said.

“Did you have booty blindness?” Randolf asked.

“No!” He knew that wasn’t the case, yet he asked anyway. He always asked that question.

“Hey, don’t get your panties in wad, I had to ask though.” Randolf silently went back to fixing my hair, thank goodness. The next ten minutes were quiet, but it was a relief. It gave me time to collect my thoughts. When Randolf finished, he left the dressing room so Uri could help me put on my dress.

“What shoes do you want wear?” Uri asked.

“Uhm, I don’t know, maybe the ones with the crystals over the toes?”

“Those have three inch heels. Are sure you want something so small?”

“What do you mean?”

“I took a look out there. The Earl is awfully tall,” she said in a sing-song voice.

“If I wear anything taller, I might make a fool of myself.”

“Exactly. Your clumsy ass would fall, and naturally, he would catch you,” Uri said, while picking up a set of shoes that had four inch heels on them.

“No.” I crossed my arms and made a cross face. I was not going to let her strong arm me into her little plan, again. I did that a few guys ago, and of course it turned out disastrously.

“Oh, I’m so scared.” Uri rolled her eyes and set the shoes back down. “What’s the deal?”

“This is so inappropriate! He’s the Prime Minister, I’m the Queen. How do you think that would make him look to the Senate, the House of Note, or worse, the House of Commons?”

“You’re worried about how he would look, not you?”

“I can’t be replaced, he can.” Uri did not look convinced. She looked bored more than anything else.

“We don’t have time to argue right now. So just put on the damn shoes you want to wear and then let’s get our happy asses out there before you decide to fight me over the dress or your makeup.” I slipped into the shoes I wanted to wear and we made our way out to the living room of my apartment. I felt nervous. I wanted to pretend that I didn’t know why, but it was obvious.

Uri and I made our way through the hallway. We stopped at the door and she knocked on it. The door was opened and she joined everyone in the living room. Gunther announced me. I walked in and everyone bowed. That was another thing I still had not gotten use to. When everyone stood up, I immediately noticed Callum. He wasn’t wearing a suit, but he still looked amazing. This time, he was wearing a pale blue button down shirt that was left open, with a grey t-shirt underneath it. He also had on some nice khakis and brown loafers. Randolf cleared his throat. “So, the Earl was just telling me that he and his friends wanted to take us out to Kirby Boulevard.”

“If that’s still alright with you, Henri?” Callum asked me.

“Of course. I’m up for anything. What about you two?” I looked at Uri and Randolf. Uri shrugged, but Randolf, of course, had to have an objection.

“We are not going into that trashy bar, Del Los.”

“Hey, what’s so wrong with that bar? We go there often!” One of Callum’s friends said.

“It’s a hell hole, it’s dirty and that’s where all the trash hangs out.” I had a feeling that Randolf would find something wrong with whatever place they choose. Callum’s friend wisely made another suggestion.

“Fine, what about Lion’s Pub?” Randolf objected to that suggestion as well. This went on for a while, with the rest of Callum’s friends plotting along with Randolf. Uri made herself comfortable on the green velvet arm chair while I skulked over to one of the stools at the corner bar. Callum soon made his way over to the bar to chat with me.

“I’m so sorry about my friends. I didn’t think they would be like this,” Callum said while taking a seat on the stool next to me.

“It’s not their fault. Randolf is just picky.”

“Picky? Aren’t you nice.”

“He’s my friend, so of course I’m going to be nice. He means well though.”

“I assume that the woman sitting in the green chair is the friend you were trying to set me up with for my ball.”

“You assumed correctly. That is Uri, my best friend.”

“She seems, uh, fascinating?” He had a questioning look on his face, as if he was waiting for my reaction. Uri did have bright, purple hair (that day), so she might seem "fascinating" to some.

“You can say it, she’s a bitch.” Uri had a tendency to be a huge pain at times, but she was the best of friends anyone could ever hope for.

“Hey, I didn’t say it, you did.” Callum chuckled and looked down at his lap.

“I guess you could say she’s like the yin to my yang.”

“That seems like an appropriate analogy. How long have you two known each other?”

“I met her at Hull.”

“The school you went to in Sweden, right?”

“Yup, that one.”

“Did she know about you after you found out?”

“Not for a few months. No one really knew. Gunther, Franz and Kitra did of course, but it was some time before I told Uri. She was at Yale, where I was supposed to go, but after I broke down and told her, she transferred to Cornell to be with me, support me.”

“That was really sweet of her.” Callum smiled.

“It was. I tried to persuade her not to, but she did it anyway. She went to law school though, and I obviously did not. I’m just glad to finally have her back.”

“Law school? You were going to go to law school?” Callum seemed surprised by my admission.

“Yup.”

“What stopped you?”

“The Duchess’s death.”

“Of Greenvile?”

“Yes, Ella.”

“She was a good woman, a friend to my family.” Gillingham was a small country; everyone knew everyone, or so it seemed.

“Yes, she was. I wish I could have met her.” I looked down at my lap, then spun around on the bar stool to face the bar counter. Callum turned to face me and placed a hand on my back.

“He goes before the House of Commons in seven months.”

“Excuse me?”

“Abdiel. His trial with the House of Commons begins in seven months. The Senate and House of Note already found him guilty. If the House of Commons finds him guilty, the high court will be able to impose any punishment on them that they want to, after their trial of course.”

“As long as they have a majority vote.”

“I have a feeling that won’t be a problem.” I had heard more than my fair share of political talk for the day.

“Cal?” He dropped his hand from my back.

“Yes?”

“Can we not talk about anything political for the rest of the night, please?”

“Of course! I’m so sorry, how thoughtless of me.” I turned to face Callum. One of his hands was resting on the bar, and I placed my hand on top of it.

“It’s ok. It’s easy to forget that I’m a person too and there’s more to me than what meets the eye.” Callum turned his hand over to hold mine and then placed his free hand on top of my hand. I had to remind myself to breathe for a moment.

“I promise that for the rest of tonight, all of our conversations will be fun and meaningless.”

“Meaningless?” Callum pursed his lips as if he wished he had said something else.

“Sorry, wrong word. I meant to say, they will be light and entertaining.” I smiled and then looked down at my legs. “You know, you are very beautiful when you smile.” That comment made me blush, and I could feel it across my face.

“You’re only saying that because I’m your Queen and you have to be nice to me.”

“No, I have to say that because it’s true.” I was stunned that he said that. Thankfully, Randolf approached us and informed us that he and Callum’s friends had finally come to an agreement.

We headed out, with my royal body guards in tow. In the car, Callum finally introduced me to his friends. The man who had been speaking to Randolf was Doyle. He was what Uri would consider short (he was the same height as Randolf), but he was still handsome. He had blonde hair (from a bottle), a nice tan, brown eyes and muscles that looked like they were about to explode from his tight, black t-shirt. Callum then told me that Maxim was his cousin and Torrin was a mutual friend of theirs. Maxim looked very much like Callum, but he had black, curly hair and was taller. Torrin had the geek-shic look going on. He too was tall, but was very lanky and wore rectangular, thick glasses. I guessed that if he gained twenty pounds, he would look nice. He did have nice blonde (natural) hair and dark blue eyes.

The car pulled out onto Kirby Boulevard. I had never been down the street, so of course I was looking out the windows, gawking. Uri noticed this and nudged me. “It’s just a street full of clubs and bars. There were plenty of those in Ithaca.”

“Back then, I had black hair and a title that no one knew about.”

“No one, except for me and the cabbage patch.”

“Ha ha, ok, I get it.” I turned in my seat to face Uri.

“Jade is going to be sending me the dossiers of the men she thinks are suitable for me.”

“How many are there?” Uri sound shocked and looked horrified.

“Too many,” I said through gritted teeth.

“And we’ll have to go through these with Franz and Kitra?”

“Yup.”

“Oh hell. You’ll never find a husband at that rate.”

“It gets worse.” I told Uri what Callum had told me about the 1438 marriage law.

“Well, four years should be more than enough time, right?” Uri didn’t sound hopeful, but she tried to look positive.

“Uri, this is me we’re talking about. I’m like, socially inept when it comes to men.” She laughed.

“You do have bad taste in men. Ok, enough about that, let’s go get drunk!” The car stopped in front of a club called The Hopping Frog. The outside was painted screaming green. Gunther got out of the car first and joined my other bodyguards. Everyone exited the car before I did. Callum stopped to offer me his hand when I got out of the car. I gladly took it and smiled; he returned the smile with equal fervor.

The inside of the club was sectioned off. There was a dance room, bar, karaoke nook, line dancing parlor, trance-techno corner and several VIP areas. Of course, Callum called ahead to reserve one for us, just in case. The room was large enough to accommodate 20 people, comfortably. It was completely tacky; there was a red velvet Louis XV style couch in the center of the room surrounded by sectioned black velvet couches. The walls were covered in fuzzy gold and black wall paper and above the round couch was a large, gold, crystal chandelier. I was beginning to notice a pattern of certain events happening to me in awful looking rooms.

Shortly after we arrived, two waitresses approached the room to take our orders. They were checked out by one of my bodyguards before being allowed to enter. Callum, as the new Prime Minister, had his lone body guard with him as well. “Spiro seems so useless compared to your team.”

“Well, he does get to go everywhere you go,” I pointed out.

“I suppose you’re right there. Although seeing five large men surrounding you could be intimidating even to someone like me.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I was first elected the House of Note, I didn’t require a bodyguard, but now I do. I understand the need for it, but I believe it will take some time to adjust.” Callum was sitting next to me, with his hands on his knees. I angled myself towards him and placed one of my hands on his.

“I still haven’t gotten use to it. I wonder if I ever will.”

“Maybe if you had grown up with it, it might have seemed natural.”

“Well, I will admit, I do love being able to sleep in a huge, soft bed.” Callum laughed. He flipped his hand over again to hold mine with both of his hands.

“Can I tell you something?”

“Sure.” I could feel my heart pounding.

“I knew today was your half birthday, so I purposely planned our meeting in hopes that I might give you this.” Callum let go of my hand to reach into his pants pocket and pulled out a small, black box. “I was going to give this to you earlier, but it just didn’t seem right.” He handed me the box. “Go ahead, open it!”

It took me a moment to come to my senses after the initial shock that Callum had a gift for me. I carefully opened the box to find a white pouch inside. I emptied the pouch into my hand. The pouch contained a silver necklace with a rectangular, aquamarine pendant. On top of the stone were several small diamonds where it was attached to the chain. “Cal, this is beautiful! But, how did you know?”

“Aquamarine is March’s birthstone, is it not?”

“It is, but how did you know this was my favorite as well?” Callum looked down at his hands briefly before he replied.

“I noticed that you wore the stone often. I just assumed that it was because it was your birth stone.”

“But, why?”

“I was invited to your birthday ball this year, but was unable to attend. I got sick. I thought this might make up for it.” Callum took the necklace to put it on for me. I turned around and lifted my hair up. After it was on, he gently brushed my neck with his fingers tips while he got the chain centered. I turned back around to face him.

“I still don’t understand why. I haven’t done anything for you, well, yet at least.”

“Consider it a kind gesture.” Callum took my hands and kissed them. Just after that, the waitresses reentered the room with our drinks. The bodyguards tested all of our drinks before we could get them.

Everyone left the comfort of our private room to explore the club. I remained on the red velvet couch, still mystified. Gunther noticed and came to sit next to me. “He’s cute.”

“He’s also the Prime Minister.”

“So?”

“He has political ambitions of his own. My guess is that he serves a few terms at Prime Minister and then puts in a bid for the Senate, and maybe even Chancellor one day.”

“Word is, that’s exactly what he plans on doing.” Gunther took off his glasses after he said that. “I still don’t see how that matters.”

“He holds a public office; therefore, we could not consort in such a fashion.”

“Your majesty, forgive me for being blunt, but right now I need to. I know the laws almost as well as you do and I know of no such law that forbids you from ‘consorting’ with someone who holds office.”

“Think about how it would make both of us look.”

“The House of Commons would think you are trying to persuade the House of Note for your own personal gains which would then make the Senate think they are cleaning up your dirty work which would piss off President Dallon and possibly Chancellor Oya.”

“Gunther, you’re smarter than Kitra gives you credit for.” Kitra seemed to think of Gunther as the brawn with very little brains.

“Thank you, your majesty. Now, I need to be blunt again.”

“Excuse me?” Gunther stood up, then pulled me to my feet and gave me a push.

“Go dance with them. Don’t worry, we’ll be keeping an eye on you, but we’ll be keeping our distance.” I was a little shocked that Gunther was the one giving me the heave ho, but I knew he was right. With Gunther following me, I made my way out to the dance floor where everyone else was.

I spotted Uri and made my way towards her and began dancing. Just like old times, there was a small crowd of men around who were mystified by two women dancing together. If it wasn’t that, they were simply gawking over the Queen of Gillingham who was there in the flesh. Doyle started dancing with me. He was a good dancer too, so it was nice and refreshing. Randolf joined us as well, but I think it was because he thought Doyle was cute. I didn’t mind though, it was nice to cut loose and not have anything to worry about. We were all having fun dancing, until a slow song came on. I suddenly felt like I was in high school again. Doyle and Randolf started dancing together. I turned around to see Uri dancing with Maxim.

Instead of looking like an idiot, I started to make my way off the dance floor. I was almost out of the room when someone grabbed my hand and spun me around. It was Callum. “Now, I can’t let the Queen go without a dance partner. That wouldn’t be very gentlemanly of me.”

“I suppose not, but it’s just a dance. Why don’t you go pick out a pretty girl and dance with her.”

“I already did.” The best part about the club at that very moment was the fact that it was so dark; Callum couldn’t see me blushing, thank goodness. He led me back onto the dance floor. He wrapped his right arm around me and took my right hand with his left. Once his hands were snugly in place, he pulled me in closer. Even in heals, I was still shorter. I stared at his shoulder intently for a moment before I spoke again.

“You haven’t even known me for a full day, yet you’ve been so kind to me. What gives?”

“I guess I lied a little earlier when I told you that the Duke and I had spoken about you.” I looked right up at Callum.

“What do you mean?”

“The first time we sat down during the transition, I asked him what his working relationship with you was like. That led into discussions about your character and demeanor. I was so curious and asked a lot questions, some that I probably shouldn’t have asked.” I possessed so many bad habits. The worst of all was when I shied away from a man that was so right for me. I always went for the "wrong" guys.

“Callum, we can go talk?”

“Of course!” I motioned to Gunther and he followed us back. I told him to stay outside so I could have a moment alone with Callum. We sat down on the round couch, facing each other.

“Callum, you are my Prime Minister. Rumor has it that you might even put in a bid for the Senate in a few years. Do you have any idea how it would make you look if our relationship was more than professional?” Callum grabbed my hands. His gaze remained focused on my eyes.

“It might not look the best; you’re right. Just, answer one question for me, please?”

“Yes?” With the blink of an eye, Callum leaned in and kissed me. One hand made its way around to my back and the other found my neck. I instantly returned the kiss. Before I could even think about it, he pulled away.

“Did you feel anything?” I sat in front of Callum, in silence. I couldn’t even bring myself to lie to him. Instead, I kissed him on the cheek, and then got up to leave the room. I went to bar with Gunther a step behind me. He saw the look on my face and had Uri come in with us. Uri stayed with me the rest of night while I drank until I felt euphoric.

The ride back to the palace was a little awkward. I sat in the far back with Uri, where Callum couldn’t see me. Uri asked what happened and I told her to ask me the next day when I was sober. The following morning over breakfast, after I told her, she left it at, “oh.”

The Queen's Men, part 3

2011-03-16T23:29:00.000-04:00

3. The new Prime Minister

I woke the next morning already in my own bed; Gunther must have carried me there after we landed. After taking a quick look around, it all sank in again- I am the Queen of Gillingham. Every morning since this all happened, I woke up wondering if this was all just a dream. I didn’t grow up as a princess or even as the family that was named as the next dynasty.

After one more look around my bedroom, I took and a deep breath and rang for my ladies in waiting. Kitra came in with them to give me my schedule for the day and to brief me on some pressing issues. My morning was to be comprised of phone calls, a few quick meetings and an interview.

My afternoon was to be usurped by the new Prime Minister, the Earl of Faustus. The Earl would be the second Prime Minister since my rein began. The Duke of Padgett was the Prime Minister when I returned to Gillingham. At first, he was not receptive. Once he spent some time with me, he learned that I am a good person and he became a mentor of sorts to me. I hoped that our new Prime Minister would be as wonderful as he was. I had urged the Duke to run again, but he felt that his time in office was long over as his Father, the Earl of Padgett, was in poor health.

It was the first day of fall in Gillingham, and I wanted to be outside doing anything but taking meetings and giving an interview. I was at least able to have my lunch meeting on the East lawn, but it only made me feel restless. It was a cool 68 degrees, clear skies and the grass was still soft enough to walk on with bare feet. I was stuck talking to the President of the Trade Association about this year’s fall harvest surplus.

The meeting finished twenty minutes early and it gave me a chance to have a little fun. I kicked off my shoes, hiked up my skirt, and let lose. I threw my arms up in the air and pretended to be an airplane while I ran around squealing like a little girl. To most, that might have seemed childish, but to me, it was nice to pretend I was normal for a moment.

My fun time was interrupted when I heard Franz clear his throat. I turned around to find him standing next to an unfamiliar, yet strikingly handsome man. I was almost speechless! The man was trying not to smile, but I could see that he had an amazing, wide smile, dazzling white teeth and sky blue eyes. His broad shoulders caught my eye next, which was what then brought me back up to see his chocolate brown, perfectly straight, styled hair. A man that good looking had to be a mirage.

“Your majesty,” Franz said while bowing with the man next to him, “I hope you don’t mind, but seeing as how your meeting ended early, I thought you wouldn’t mind my escorting the Earl of Faustus out to see you.”

“No, that’s fine, you may fetch him now.”

“Your majesty, I beg your pardon, but I will not need any fetching,” the new man said.

“Excuse me? The Earl of Faustus, whom I have met before, is not you. Callum Greer is a bit older than you are, for starters.”

“Callum Greer the fourth was my Father.” After he said that, I felt like a huge ass. I had forgotten that he died a year ago. Of course, his title passed on to his eldest child, Callum Greer the fifth, formerly the Duke of Faustus. “Oh, your majesty, please don’t frown so!”

“I am so sorry! How insensitive of me!” I took a step towards Callum, but he held up his hands, palms facing upwards, and spoke again.

“Your majesty, you need not apologize to me. You have so much to worry about; I understand how the death of a simple Earl could easily go unnoticed.” Callum put his hands down when he finished speaking and looked down. I stood there for a moment, dumbfounded that someone could be so modest after being so rudely insulted. I wanted to say sorry again, but I knew that I would hear about it later from Franz, who was still standing next to Callum, looking annoyed.

“If you’ll pardon my intrusion, your majesty, I shall just make my way back to my office and leave you two about. Please ring for me if you need anything,” Franz said. Before he left, he stepped towards me to whisper in my ear, “would you like me to send out Gunther to watch closely?”

“No, thank you, I think we’ll be fine. Besides, he can see us just fine from the office.” Franz bowed, and then left us on the East lawn, alone. I turned to walk back towards the shaded table.

“How was your trip to America?” Callum asked, while following me.

“Interesting.”

“Interesting?”

“It was personal, not royal.”

“Ah. Say no more, your majesty.”

“Please, you’re the Prime Minister, you may call me Henrike. We’re practically equals.”

“You are my queen, therefore we will never be equals.” Callum’s voice was very soft when he said that. I wondered what he was getting at.

“Well then, your grace, tell me what you have planned during your first tenure as Prime Minister. I have been looking forward to hearing your plans.”

“Your majesty, you can call me Cal, everyone else does.”

“Didn’t you just tell me that you could never call me by my name because we were not equals?” Callum stopped as we were walking to face me.

“Surely you must know that as my queen, you are free to call me whatever you please. So, if you wanted to call me ‘boy’ or ‘hey you,’ I would happily respond.”

“You are nothing but one of my humble, loyal subjects then?” I said in a sarcastic tone; I crossed my arms and leaned back on my left leg.

“Yes,” Callum said, while bowing his head. It gave me the perfect in to apologize for nearly forgetting about his father.

“Your Father’s death did not escape me. I remember it because the day before, I was introduced to the new President of France, while I was in France of course. The news was delivered to me there.” I placed my hand on Callum’s shoulder. “He was not a ‘simple Earl,’ he was a friend to the crown, and a wonderful man.”

“Yes, he was friends with King Rutherford.” Callum glanced at my hand that was still on his shoulder. I suddenly became very aware of that and removed it. He caught it before I had a chance to bring my hand back to my side.

“Thank you, Henrike.” I smiled.

“My friends call me Henri. Maybe one day, you will too.” Callum smiled again, and it caught me off guard. I giggled like a teenage girl for a split second, then caught myself and cleared my throat. “You know, we don’t have to stay outside if you don’t want to. We could return inside to the library or my state office.”

“And waste such wonderful weather?” I was relieved that he wanted to be outside just as much as I did. We sat down at the patio table. Callum wasted no time and dove straight into business. Shortly after his arrival, I rang for one of my ladies in waiting so that she could take notes for me. Having someone else taking notes afforded me the opportunity to silently drool over Callum. At one point, I wondered what he was hiding underneath the suit he was wearing. I did notice that the navy blue color of his perfectly tailored coat brought out his eyes.

After we had been chatting for an hour, I felt restless, so I asked if he would mind taking our meeting for a turn about the flower garden. “It still looks marvelous, thanks to this wonderful weather, but I except that some of the flowers are beginning to die.”

“That sounds terrific actually.” Our walk from the East lawn to the flower garden was filled with more business, but once we reached the garden, Callum’s tune changed. “You were right, this garden is amazing.”

“Have you never been on the palace tour?”

“Once, when I was younger, but it was winter and the palace grounds were covered in snow, so the tour was restricted to parts of the palace…” Callum’s voice trailed off. I could sense that he was about to say something that was a painful memory to him. “During our tour, the bomb in the North wing of the castle went off.” My heart sank when he said that. I didn’t care about protocol at that moment, so I hugged him. He flinched, but then returned the hug, briefly.

“Thank you, Henrike. But, what was that for?”

“I missed it, all of it, so it’s easy to forget that our country was once the center of a major war, a war that claimed so many innocent lives.”

“But, aren’t you glad that you were safely away from it?”

“Yes, in a way. I knew that we had family here, and I knew that I was safer in Chicago. I never met the rest of my family, so there was no true connection to my ties here.”

“You’re... it, right?”

“Yup, I’m it.” I looked down at my feet for a moment as we turned the first corner of the garden. I hated that I had no family left. Everyone had been a victim to King Abdiel’s greediness.

“My Uncle was killed in the war.”

“The Baron of Grosvenor, correct?”

“How did you know that?”

“I remember coming home from school one day, and my Father was very upset. My Mother told me that an old friend of his had died, and that he was a Baron back home. Years later I asked about it and he told me that it was Allen, the Baron of Grosvenor.”

“I had almost forgotten that they were friends.” Callum turned his head away from me, to look as if he was studying the garden, as opposed to hiding solemn emotions from me. I stopped abruptly and grabbed his hand. He turned his head around and looked down at our hands.

“Everyone lost so much because of a horrible, horrible man. We are no different from everyone else in this matter.”

“But it was you who ended it.” Callum turned to face me, and grabbed my other hand. “We are the ones who should be thanking you.”

“Gunther was the one who ended it, not me.”

“You were the one bright enough to send him to do the job though.”

“You’re giving me more credit than I deserve.” I tried to pull my hands away, but Callum grasped them harder. He brought my hands up and kissed them before he let me have them back. I was completely petrified for a moment, but in a good way.

“Please forgive me for being so bold, but you are far too modest for a woman of your position.”

“No, I’m not modest enough.”

“But you are. The speech you gave a few months ago after the labor union disputes at the mills, you tried to pass all the credit off to the union leaders and factory managers.”

“They did deserve the credit. I was simply there to act as a mediator.”

“Henrike, I read the transcripts from that day. You were the one who came up with the terms and settlement, not them. They simply agreed that it was the best fit for both parties.”

“You must not have read them clearly, because I all I did was take all of their ideas and lump it into something sensible and practical.” Callum turned to resume our walk.

“It seems as if you have lived up to my expectations. Although I will admit, I believed that the Duke exaggerated when he told me about you.” I turned to walk beside Callum, but was surprised that he had already formed an opinion of me before we had ever met.

“So, you talked to Allen about me?”

“Not exactly. You came up in conversation a few times of course, in relation to several matters, and naturally I had some questions.” I wanted to ask what else the Duke had said, but I also knew that it was best not to ask in this instance. Instead, I opted for a change of pace.

“So tell me, what’s the hot spot these days around the country?”

“What makes you think I would know?” Callum was caught off guard by my question.

“You’re my age, right?”

“Close, I’m about three years older.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were thirty. Wait, doesn’t that make you the youngest Prime Minister in the history of Gillingham?” Callum rubbed his neck and looked down at his shoes for a moment.

“Well, uh, yes, it does actually.”

“Now that did escape me.”

“Excuse me?” Callum stopped to look at me, with a glare of confusion.

“The whole time during the election, I stupidly thought it was your Father running, so of course, the simple little fact that you were soon to be the youngest Prime Minister was something that went unnoticed by me.” He chuckled.

“I didn’t realize that you had a sense of humor as well.”

“There are many things that you don’t know about me,” I said in a matter-of-fact sort of tone.

“You know, we should probably head inside and finish our little chat. I haven’t told you yet about my proposal for the new education bill.”

“I’d love to hear all about it, as well as your plan for your inauguration ball.”

“You’d have to ask my Mother about that one.”

“Not your wife?”

“I’m not married.” Hearing that sent my mind into a tizzy.

“Girlfriend?”

“Let’s just leave it at I’ve been so focused on my political career that dating has been on the back burner for some time.”

“Surely now that you’re a great and powerful man you’ll at least have a date to your own ball?” I was prying, and not very well either.

“My Mother, or perhaps my sister or cousin.”

“Well, that just won’t do. You know, my lady in waiting, Lady Mallory, needs a date. She would be perfect for you. She is very down to earth, and so bright!” Callum didn’t look interested. “Or, my best friend, Uri, will be attending. You would love her.”

“Henrike, I’m not so sure I even want a date.” I could relate to that a little bit. “I mean, I want to get married, and have a family, but finding a woman who can deal with my ambitions might be a little hard.”

“Dating sucks.” Now I was the one looking down at my feet.

“I think the whole world knows you think that.” Ouch! It was truth though.

“So I take it you read the gossip then?”

“Not voluntarily…” I knew what he was about to say and I cut him off.

“I was in Los Angeles.”

“Yes I know, we all knew.”

“I was meeting with Jade Pilgrim.”

“The matchmaker?”

“Yes, one in the same.”

“Oh. That I did not know.” Callum seemed surprised and it showed on his face.

“I know, even for me that seems a little low, but I think it’s become very obvious that I don’t know what I’m doing, when it comes to men at least.”

“Well, that guy you dated last year wasn’t so bad.”

“Oh, you mean the one who tried to steal some of the ancient royal decrees during the independence ball?”

“Right, or the one who claimed to be a descendant of King Justus.”

“So you see how I sort of needed it.” We had reached the end of the garden. Callum stopped to face me, and placed his hands on my shoulders.

“But, do you want it?” He sounded and looked genuinely concerned.

“Honestly?”

“Yes.”

“Not really. I think I would rather just leave it up to fate.” Callum dropped his hands. His next question really surprised me.

“If you parents were still alive,” that part stung a little. “What do you think they would tell you?”

“If my parents were still alive, I wouldn’t be the queen.” I abruptly turned to walk back to the castle. The rest of the afternoon, we spoke only of business and political matters. Everything was fine, until Callum brought up his last point of business.

“There is one last thing, your majesty.” Callum leaned forward, to rest his arms on his legs.

“Your majesty? Why does this sound like it’s not good if you’re back to calling me that so soon?”

“It’s not bad so much as it is sensitive.”

“Just tell me, I don’t have the patience for it right now, we’ve had a long afternoon.”

“The royal marital law of 1438.”

“I’m not familiar with that law, what does it say?”

“You know the history of your family, correct? How one of your very late, great grandfather’s abdicated the throne?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know why?”

“Something about a civil war going on, right?”

“His majesty, King Franco, never took a wife, during his reign that is. He didn’t even have any illegitimate children. Several of his advisors tried to force him to take a wife, which in turn sparked the civil outcry of 1435.”

“You said the royal marital law of 1438?”

“He abdicated and his successor, Queen Rose created the law. Any royal not married by their thirty first birthday must abdicate the throne and name the next dynasty.”

“I have to marry in the next four years or abdicate?” Callum couldn’t even look me in the eyes after I said that. He seemed ashamed that he had to be the bearer of bad news.

“It’s a silly law, I know, but at the time, it seemed necessary.” Callum looked back up at me. “I can try and propose a law that would replace that one, if it pleases your majesty.” I stood up and walked to the window, to look out at the North Forest. Looking at the forest, it was hard to tell that so many years before, a bomb had hit it.

“Your grace, I think we are nearly finished for the day.” Callum stood up and bowed. He turned around to leave, but I knew I needed to stop him. “Wait.” He stopped to turn around, just a few steps away from the door.

“Yes, your majesty?” He said, while bowing his head.

“Henrike, please?”

“Yes, Henrike.”

“I know it’s not your fault, it’s just hard to hear these sorts of things. I wasn’t raised as royalty of any sort.” Callum walked back to me and took my hands again. It sent a good chill up my spine.

“Henri, I will be here, for you, as long as I am your Prime Minister, and longer if you’d like me to be.” The look on his face was so soft and tender. I could feel my cheeks turning red.

“You called me Henri.”

“That’s what you want me to call you, in private of course, right?”

“Yes, Cal.” I smiled.

“I can only imagine what it must be like to be in your shoes. You have proven yourself worthy of the crown though. Your parents would be proud of you.” I would never know for certain if they would be proud of me, but I could hope so, at the very least.

“Four years?”

“Well, four and half. Your birthday isn’t until March, correct?”

“Yes, I guess you’re right.”

“So that makes today your half birthday!” Callum seemed excited, and I was completely puzzled by his statement.

“Excuse me?”

“Your half birthday!”

“Why on earth would anyone get excited about that?” I raised my eyebrow and crossed my arms. The idea seemed absurd to me.

“My family always had silly little traditions, like celebrating half birthdays. You should try it, it’s fun.”

“Celebrate my half birthday? Sure…”

“I never answered your question earlier.”

“Which one?”

“The ‘hot spot’ right now is Kirby Boulevard. There’s several bars and clubs. My friends and I go there all the time.” I thought about it for only a moment.

“Bring your friends here tonight, by nine.”

“Really? You mean it?”

“Don’t make me regret it.” Callum kissed me on the cheek and then dashed out of the room. I stood at the spot by window, nearly petrified. Once I came to my senses, I asked the kitchen for an early dinner, so I could nap before my outing.

The Queen's Men, part 2

2011-03-07T13:57:00.000-05:00

2. How I became Queen

When my parents were married, Gillingham was at peace with Ratascont. In 2016, the new king decided that the island nation of Gillingham was rightfully his. I was one when King Abdiel declared war against us. Just before the second invasion, my parents fled to America, with me in tow. I grew up not knowing the truth, kept completely in the dark, but I always knew that there was something special about me. I went to a private school and always had a body guard with me.

By 2029, King Abdiel’s army was beginning to weaken, and he was running out of options. He assembled a group of assassins to take out the entire royal family of Gillingham. He picked them off one by one. He hit King Rutherford first, followed by his wife, their six children, his two brothers and sister, and their families. With the entire Jocquet dynasty gone, that meant that a new dynasty was to be named, according to the line of succession set forth by King Rutherford and the senate when he came into power.

In 2030, I was sent to a boarding school in Sweden. I didn’t know why at the time. I was told that it was for my safety and best interest. I fought my parents tooth and nail. I was happy in Chicago and I had friends that I didn’t want to leave behind. The weeks before I left, I tried to do everything I could think of to persuade them to keep me at home. I dyed my hair black, got my tongue pierced and I even got a tattoo. They were happy that I did that. I still didn’t know why at the time. In the end though, they made a few concessions for me. One of them was ditching the bodyguard.

A week before my eighteenth birthday, my parents came to see me. They seemed quite shaken and said some odd, cryptic things to me. My Mother gave me a large, mahogany box and told me not to open it until I knew when. When I asked her when that might be, she said I would just know. The day after my birthday, King Abdiel’s assassins killed them. The weeks following their deaths were hard on me. I shut myself out from the world around me. My friends tried, but eventually, they gave up on me.

The day before I was to graduate, Gunther found me. He asked me why I had not yet written him. Of course, I was puzzled. He told me to open the box and that he would talk to me again afterward. I had known for some time that it was past time for me to open the damned box, but I had a sinking feeling about it. All of my things had been packed up for me to come back to America that weekend, so it took me a few hours to find the box. Once it had been unearthed, I sat staring at it, nervously, before I worked up the courage to open it.

I opened the box and my destiny was revealed to me. At the top of the pile of things in the box was a patent of nobility. I threw it aside and uncovered mine and my parents’ birth certificates. Below that was a large envelope that was sealed in dark, green wax. That was set down to open later because underneath the envelope were pictures of my childhood, the last remaining memories of my parents. Thumbing through the photos, I also discovered some news articles that had been saved, all of them about the war between Gillingham and Ratascont.

After reading the articles, I knew that it was time to open the envelope. I held the large, manila envelope in my hands, wondering what it contained while I stared at the green wax. The crest on the seal was pretty, and I didn’t want to break it, but I did. Inside the envelope was an official copy of King Rutherford’s decree of the line of succession. With everyone else dead, and I already eighteen, that left me as the sole heir to the throne.

The next morning, while walking into the school gardens for our graduation ceremony, I spotted Gunther in the audience, with two additional people. The entire time, the three of them stared at me intently. I knew why, but I pretended like nothing was wrong. When the ceremony was over, Gunther whisked me away into a limo before I could say good bye to my friends.

“Your majesty, can we assume that you read the decree?” The strange man to my left asked me; Gunther was sitting to my right.

“I didn’t read it all, but I did read some of it, enough to know that I’m the last… one.”

“The last royal, yes,” he said while looking down. The man shook his head, as if to brush off the thought he just had. “Your existence is nothing short of a miracle. Because the war is still raging on, your safety is our first priority.”

“I still don’t get what any of this means. And, who are you guys?”

“We all knew your parents,” the woman said as she leaned forward from where she sat on the side. “Gunther is my big brother, and Franz is our cousin, you Father’s best friend. I’m Kitra, I was your Mother’s best friend. When you were born, we were asked to be your protectors.”

“My protectors?”

“It’s like being your godparents,” Franz told me. “Only, because you are royalty, we are more than that now. Your parents knew this day might come, so we were appointed by them to be your personal advisors and body guard,” he said while motioning to Gunther.

“So, what happens now?”

“You’re eighteen, so it’s up to you. You can go home and finish this war, or we can appoint a regent while you go to college, protected, and under an alias of course,” Kitra said.

“If I appoint a regent, how will I know I can trust him, or her?”

“Your Father and I made a list of people that will have your best interests at heart,” Franz said as he handed me a black folder. The list was short, seven people, but they all had impeccable credentials and references.

“Can I choose them all?”

“Why would you want to do that?” Kitra asked.

“One person could become corrupt while as all of them would have to work as a collective, like a democracy on my behalf.”

“Already thinking like a queen,” Kitra said, with a smile. “Your parents would be so proud of you.”

“So, is this your decision?” Franz asked.

“I suppose they know that I’m going to Yale.”

“Yes, so we need to find a new university to attend.”

“We?”

“Like or not, we’re stuck with you now,” Kitra said as she leaned back into her seat, and crossed her arms. The reality of the situation was beginning to sink in. My life would never be normal again. It wasn’t that normal before, but now, it was definitely different.

Franz was able to pull some strings and got me into Cornell (it wasn’t that hard seeing as how I was on their waiting list). I was registered as Jane Smithe; I dyed my hair black again and wore contacts to make my eyes looks brown. Having blonde hair and blues eyes was, for once, a bad thing. I went summers so that I could graduate sooner. I wanted to major in bio-chem, but I knew that it was not in my best interest. Instead, I went the pre-law, poly-sci route hoping that I could benefit from it.

After my parents died, Uri was one of the few people who genuinely tried to be there for me. She never fully gave up. When she found out that I would not be attending Yale with her, she was furious and demanded to know why. I didn’t know if I could trust her. I was supposed to be her roommate, so that had to have meant something. During a long weekend in October, she drove up to Ithaca to see me. When she saw the house I was renting and how I was living, it raised so many more questions.

During Uri’s visit, Kitra pulled me aside to tell me that Franz had run a background check on her when there was still a possibility that I would have been attending Yale. It was all good things, thankfully. Back then, she was the only real friend I had. I trusted her though and decided that I could trust her with my secret. At first, she didn’t believe me. Gunther had been listening in and joined us to confirm what I had told her. Uri was shocked, to say the least.

Uri left and went back to New Haven. I didn’t speak to her again until Thanksgiving. The morning after Thanksgiving, she showed up at my house and informed me that she was moving in. Her car had a small trailer hitched to it. I found out that she had put in for a transfer to Cornell to be with me. We’ve been best friends ever since.

Any time one of my classes talked about the war between Gillingham and Ratascont, I became very nervous. The news of my parents’ assassination was all over the news for a while. When my team of Regents assembled for the first time in the House of Note, so many questions were brought up. The biggest one was the secrecy surrounding who I was. No matter how many times my Regents defended me, the doubt of my existence grew.

I applied to law school, wishfully thinking that I would have the chance to further my education. King Abdiel struck again just before I graduated college, killing one of my Regents, the Duchess of Greenville, Ella Valentina. Though I had never met her, I had spoken to her many times and had come to personally trust her, along with my other Regents. I knew then that this mess needed to come to an end.
Franz, Kitra and I had a long discussion over a conference call with my remaining Regents. Franz thought I was not ready yet and believed that I should have pursued law school as I intended to. Everyone else agreed with me. I spent the next day in a salon returning to my natural color of dark blonde; the contacts were ditched as well.

Once I was settled into the castle, my first order of business was to end the war once and for all. I had learned in school that sometimes, in order to best your opponent, you needed to think like them. Gunther was sent out, secretly, to join King Abdiel’s assassins. Once he was able to infiltrate the group, he was able to turn them all for our own good. King Abdiel was captured, and Ratascont became another island nation of Gillingham. Today, King Abdiel remains imprisoned in the towers of Grita.

The Queen's Men, part 1

2011-02-15T19:44:00.000-05:00

1. A bad idea

I was sitting in a hard, avocado-green swivel chair. It didn’t swivel well; it squeaked and got stuck halfway through my turn. Even the room that I sat in screamed that this was a bad idea. It had lavender walls with squash yellow trim and a large, “L” shaped desk that was onyx-black. Jade’s desk chair was an offensive shade of neon orange, but intrigued me because it was made out of bungee cords. I imagine that it was very comfortable.

Jade sat at the section of the desk that faced away from the wall, towards where I was sitting. Her nose was buried deep into her laptop. She quickly tapped at away at the keys, looking for my supposed soul mate, whatever that meant.

The more I stared at the generic photos on the wall, the more I wondered why I had been talked into seeing a matchmaker. Not only that, I agreed to go to the world famous Jade Pilgrim, matchmaker to the rich and famous.

Gunther stood to the left of where I was sitting, propped up against the wall. Ever since this part of my life started, he was always at my side, protecting me. Gunther was nice and all, but a little cold and distant at times. Franz sat to my right, in another hard, avocado-green swivel chair, with Kitra on his other side.

Finally, Jade looked up from her laptop and took off her glasses before she spoke. “Well, it’s doable,” she said with a smug, but confident look.

“Doable?” I questioned her judgment.

“I have a few guys who could potentially be a match for you.”

“Your voice sounds confident, but your wording doesn’t.” Doable, potentially, I mean, seriously?

“Your majesty, might I interject?” Of course, now Kitra decides to speak up. She had silently sat by for the past two weeks and just let this happen.

“If you must, go ahead.”

“You are the queen of Gillingham, so, finding you any match, is no easy fete,” she said, with a pang of guilt.

“All of the queens before me found husbands. Why should I be any different?” I crossed my arms and legs; I was slightly agitated by that point.

“Your majesty, because you are a sensation,” Franz said, before Kitra could get in another word. “There are many men who want to become your husband simply because it would be beneficial to them in one way or another. We cannot have that of our queen.”

“I know that! But, what I meant was, why can’t I just be left to my own devices to figure this out?”

“Because we must ensure that whomever you take on will be an appropriate choice for our people.” Franz’s statement stung a little. He was right though. The last guy I dated was a complete disaster. Come to think of it, so was every guy I had ever dated.

“Take on?” I threw my hands up, I couldn’t believe he said that. “Jesus, Franz, why not just tell me that I can’t marry some guy I pick up from the corner?”

“Alright, all of you, shove it!” I was actually glad that Jade intervened, but she didn’t need to be so abrupt about it. “Henrike, do you really want to be here?”

“Not exactly, but I think it’s obvious that I can’t exactly make the best decisions for my love life.” I sunk back into the uncomfortable chair and wished that I was elsewhere.

“I guess I can work with that.” She made it sound like I was a charity case. “I just have one question. Does he really have to come with you on every date?” She motioned over to Gunther, who was still standing against the wall.

“Yes, that is not negotiable,” Franz said as he sat up straight. “He is the queen’s personal bodyguard, and he goes where she goes. She is never out of his sight.”

“Never? Does he follow her into the shower too?” Jade said, with a raised eyebrow.

“No, he does not follow me into the shower. He sits outside.” Hopefully that would shut her up.

“Why not just date him?” Gunther stood up straight before he answered Jade’s question.

“Because my boyfriend would surely be offended if I dated anyone else.” Gunther may have been a cold bastard, but he was a funny one when he opened his mouth.

“Point taken. Fine, so, first guy. Beecher Marks, 32, son of Lord and Lady Marks.”

“As in Lord Gaylord?” I started to laugh at Kitra’s statement, but Franz shot me a nasty look to keep me in my place. His Father’s first name was Gaylord, so it’s easy to see how he could be teased. His very public affair with a male prostitute was a whole other story.

“His Father makes him an unsuitable fit. Who’s next?” Franz said while waving his hand at Jade.

“Sir Keelan Thurston, of Spain.”

“Kitra, didn’t I dance with him at the coronation ball for the King of Hantaburg?”

“Maybe. Jade, what does he look like?”

“Six foot, blonde hair, blue eyes.” Kitra rolled her eyes.

“Ok, that describes just about half the guys at the coronation ball. What’s special about him?” Kitra asked, trying to figure out exactly who he was.

“Henrike, you danced with him right?” Jade asked me.

“Yes, I did.”

“Was he a good or bad dancer?”

“Good, very good actually.”

“Then this just might be the same guy.” Jade turned around her laptop to show me the photo in his dossier. Sure enough, it was the same man who I had danced with. I remembered Sir Thurston because even though he had amazing, thick blonde hair, he also had the same thick eye brows. They were the sort of eyebrows that you wanted to take a tub of wax to because they looked like blonde, hairy caterpillars. “I can get him to fix the eyebrows, if that’s what the grimace is for.”

“You could break tweezers on those things!” Kitra shouted. I laughed again, but Franz elbowed me. Jade turned her laptop back around and pulled up the next man.

“Alright, next up is the Duke of Strutesbahd, Barrington Elwood the fifth.”

“I believe the Duke has a girlfriend, or tweleve,” Franz said, with a twinge of disgust to his voice.

“Ok. Next is the Duke of Catta, Hudson Whitcomb.”

“Oh, he is hot as the sun!” Kitra said enthusiastically.

“Kitra!” I shouted.

“What? He is! The man has wash board abs and a dreamy smile.”

“She’s right, he does,” Jade added.

“Fine, who else?” I asked. Jade proceeded to tell me about many other men that were listed in her database that she felt were potential matches for me. There were quite a few that Franz vetoed for various reasons. Kitra even objected to a few, but for different reasons. Even Gunther had one objection, but only because he knew the man was gay and a gold digger who was attempting to escape disownment from his family.

I couldn’t get over how many potential matches there were. When Jade said a few, I assumed that meant three or four, five at best. After listening to all of her matches, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Can you just make a list and send it to me, please?”

“Well, I suppose, if that’s what you want,” Jade said, as she sat back in the bungee cord chair.

“Is there a way that maybe you could send us a dossier with pictures?” Kitra asked. “Like, something we could do as a slide show, on a computer?”

“Sure, I could do that. It might take a few days.”

“Oh Jade, you don’t have to. Kitra just wants some eye candy to look at,” I said, trying to make it known that I didn’t need this.

“Really, it’s not a problem, I do this all the time for clients! I can have it ready for you, say, by the end of this week?”

“Her majesty will be returning to Gillingham this evening. Could you have it sent to the castle?” Franz asked.

“No problem!” Franz and Jade worked out the details. I felt like they were plotting to take over my romantic life, or lack thereof I should say.

On the flight home, I tried not to think about it. It was hard considering that Los Angeles to Gillingham took close to 12 hours, with no stops. No matter how hard I tried, the names of all the men I had heard kept playing in my head, like it was a loop of terror. I kept replaying their names, their titles, what Franz and Kitra did or did not like about them and how I was never able to insert my opinions. It was a horrible day, and it was a day that I would soon have to relive again, in another form, thanks to the list that was on its way.

Coming Soon!

2011-02-06T20:07:00.001-05:00

This whole getting back on track thing is easier said than done, really. It has a few advantages though, which includes a little side project. The project was started as several starting points for various other things/ideas, but once I took a closer look at my ramblings, I realized that a few tweaks could turn it into something decent. So, I'll spare you the rest of the blah, blah, blah and say that it turned into a mini-series which is going to be published, exclusively, to this blog, yippee! It won't be published all at once, but in parts every 3-4 weeks. Now, on to the synopsis!

The Queen's Men

As long as Henrike could remember, her home country of Gillingham was at war. Her parents fled the country when she was very young to protect her. She had no clue who they really were until the war claimed her parent’s lives- Henrike was the next in line for the throne. Years later, Gillingham is now at peace, with Henrike ruling over her beloved country.

There’s one thing though… she has to find a husband or abdicate. To make matters more difficult, she tends to pick all the wrong men. And, as if it couldn’t get any worse, the new Prime Minister catches Henrike’s eye, making her recent meeting with a match maker all the harder to deal with.

Henrike has to make a difficult decision. Her love for her country is great and she wants to do whatever she can to protect it. However, with the Prime Minister enticing her around every corner, will she chose a forbidden love and give it all up?

One Step at a Time

2011-01-03T10:32:00.000-05:00

Life can be fickle at times. Far too often over the past few months, I have found that it has gotten in the way of my passion for writing. There is much that I could place the blame on, but ultimately, I let life get in the way. Deployments, moves, kids, pets, family and many other things make up the list of my excuses. Writing, unfortunately, had to take a back burner. In the past 3 months, I have accomplished very little writing. The moral of this story is that I need to re-prioritize right now and devout some hard core time to writing!

This was not a complete waste though. While, as I said, writing did have to take a back burner, it was all for good reasons. This started with my husband returning from a deployment. Deployments are hard enough as it is on our family, but knowing what my husband does, it's worth it. From there, we decided to buy a house knowing that we would be staying in this are for a few more years. Enter house hunting duty (yikes!). It paid off in the end and we found a beautiful (brand new!) house that we just moved into before Christmas. Needless to say, that made Christmas a bit hectic for us. Christmas came and went, and so did the start of yet another deployment.

If you kept up with that, good for you! You deserve a cookie. If you were counting, yes, that is two deployments we have begun in the past year. With my husband being in the Navy, constant deployments are simply a fact of life for us. Do I like it? Of course not! I won't let it get me down though. Life goes on and I know he'll be home later this year.

For now, I shall leave you with a few pictures of my ventures of the past few months. Enjoy!

Our house, it's so pretty, I love it!!

We took a trip to Houston for my Father's 60th birthday party.

I gave my daughter some cooking lessons (she did very well!).

And now.... on to real writing!

Teaser

2010-09-10T19:55:00.000-04:00

I thought you all might enjoy this little teaser....

Wyatt & Beckett, synopsis

2010-08-08T11:35:00.000-04:00

I hope you all enjoy this little sneak peak (in the form of a brief synopsis)

Beckett Seymour sees the opportunity to buy an old house, which he plans to fix up, after he lands the leading role in a big budget movie. His time fixing up the old house is cut short when he has to leave to film the movie.

While he is gone, his best friend, Jon, moves into his house after losing his job. To repay his friend, Jon volunteers to work on the old house during Beckett’s absence.

Wyatt Maloney is at a loss when her husband suddenly dies. With time off of work, she decides to take a trip. During her vacation, she falls in love with an old house. On a whim, she buys the house and moves to a foreign country.

Jon meets Beckett’s new neighbor, Wyatt, and she kindly volunteers to help him out with his project if he helps her out with her house. Beckett’s friends begin to descend upon his house after they all become enchanted with his new, foreign neighbor.

Beckett’s movie wraps filming, and he is finally able to spend a few days at home. However, Wyatt is back in her home country for a visit, leaving Beckett still mystified by his new neighbor.

Unable to meet, Wyatt and Beckett begin writing letters to each other. There’s only one, minor, detail. Wyatt has no clue who Beckett is, or what he does. Not only that, she doesn’t even watch TV, so has never seen any of the TV shows or movies he has been in. Beckett conceals that aspect of his life from her in his letters.

In time, Jon finds a new job, which brings him to another city. This leaves Wyatt working on both houses, by herself. When Beckett sees how much work Wyatt has done on his house, he feels guilty and asks her to hold off on the work.

Wyatt and Beckett almost meet, but because of a mishap between Wyatt’s friend and Beckett, the two are left not having a face to put behind the names and letters. Both reveal to their friends their feelings for the other, and despite not having met, they already love each other...

Why Beta readers are saints in disguise

2010-08-04T10:23:00.000-04:00

Do you have any Beta readers? If you don't, I should smack you upside the head right now. Seriously, beta readers, in my honest opinion, are saints in disguise. Some of you might not agree with me, but hear me out, would ya, please?

As a writer, you spend countless hours on your precious manuscripts. You pour your hearts and souls into them, and when you have finally finished, you want to start the push for publishing. That might not be such a good idea though.

It's hard to take a step back and look, really look, at what you have written and be able to know if it's even decent. You've also spent so much time with the story and self editing that it's hard to see if you've missed stuff.

Beta readers, though, they haven't spent days tinkering away at the story you're staring at. They're a fresh pair eyes, and often, an honest opinion.

Honest opinions don't have to hurt. Use them to your advantage! When you finally get feedback from your beta readers, you can use what they don't like and turn it into something they do like. They are not trying to hurt your feelings, they are trying to help you write a better story.

All of the critiques a beta reader gives you is what they feel works, from their point of view. You are in the characters heads, they are not. While you may understand one part of the story, they may not because they are not intimately acquainted with protagonists back story, or the antagonists motives and means.

This is not true of everyone, but I have found that some people do not think highly of beta readers. They would rather send it off to the professionals. Getting a professional opinion is only half the battle. You're not trying to get the professionals to buy your book, you're trying to get them to sell it. If you don't know what your readers want, then how can you deliver a good story for them?

If you don't want a beta reader, at all, then I need to ask you, WHY? Are you ashamed of what you have written? Do you think it's not good enough? What's your reason?! If you're not proud of what you have written, maybe it's not worth your time to get it published. BUT, maybe it's because you have spent so much time with it and you just can't separate yourself from your words. Those first two questions are the perfect reasons for sending them to a beta reader- find out if what you have is even viable.

The worst thing you will ever hear from a beta reader is, "I hate this; it's awful!" That's fine! You can't expect everyone to love everything you have written. It is also possible that you selected the wrong beta reader for your manuscript. If you're a paranormal writer, would you send your manuscript to someone who reads only romance novels? Probably not, but it's a lesson to learn when selecting your beta readers.

Before sending out your manuscript, you should inform your beta reader what they will be reading. Find out what they like first and make an educated guess on whether or not you're a good fit for each other. Start out by sending them a synopsis of your manuscript. If you want, you can even give them a short questionnaire.

The point to all of this is, don't be afraid to let someone new read your stuff. Rejection does hurt, but you can use it to your advantage to become a better, stronger writer.

To all of my own beta readers- present, past, and future- thank you for being so amazing. You have helped me when I have been stuck, and your honesty is always refreshing.

Where the WIP's stand....

2010-08-03T20:35:00.001-04:00

I just had someone ask me where I stand with everything I am writing, currently. Those of you who know me well know that I have a mild case of ADD. So, I tend to work on multiple things at once (it works for me though, plus the massive outlining I do helps keep it all in check).

So, the list.....

Two: written, approximately 97,000 words, currently under editing (with my trusty editor)

Allison Flanagan Likes to Date (book 1): written, approximately 72,000 words, currently under revisions by moi

Allison Flanagan, book 2: in progress, currently at 38,000 words

Allison Flanagan, book 3: in progress (yeah, I know, book 2 isn't done, it's a long story that involves a flash back I already wrote that took off into other things), currently at 41,000 words

The Thursday Lunch Club: still outlining, this one is a complicated little bugger. I have no clue when I might finally get pen to paper with this one

Wyatt and Beckett: yeah, this one is new! Currently written, approximately 74,000 words, currently with my trusty editor (love ya Melissa!)

Super secret, top secret, mwahahaaa, project: in progress, currently at 5,000 words

Yes, I know, that's seven things I have under my belt right now. In my defense, it keeps me busy while my husband is out to sea. The downside, I realized that in about half of those books, there is at least one male character whom I have described as looking exactly like my husband (not all main characters, thankfully).

Ok, so about that sneak attack, also known as Wyatt and Beckett. This is my newest novel. It has also been my biggest challenges to date. I say this because half of the book was written through the male protagonists point of view. It was hard for me, as a woman, to get inside a man's head. Yes, his head was full of boy ickyness and it made me feel dirty and wrong for being in it. I did it though, and I think I did an ok job with it. We'll see what the beta readers have to say though, I could be wrong!

Now, about that super secret, top secret, mwahahaa project (to be known from here on out as SSTSM), well it's exactly that. I'm not even going to hint what it's about beyond a love story (I'm a romance writer, everything I write is about love).

One last thing before I post this.... the hottness monsters poll, as you all can see, has been taken down (since the voting closed). I'm working on polishing that one up before I post it. No, I lied, it's more like I finished it but I'm working up the courage to post it (y'all picked some pretty hot men for me to feature!). Interesting fact: when I was writing that blog, I did a Google image search so I could attach some eye candy with the post. No joke, one of the guys had his search come up with a LOT of photos of him wearing next to nothing. Oh how I blushed while looking at those photos.

Happy Tuesday y'all!

Blog hop post

2010-08-03T15:25:00.000-04:00

For my fellow romance writers, I strongly suggest that you join in on this week's blog hop here! It's a great way for us to meet fellow writers :-)

For those of you who are just joining in, here's a few random facts about me...

-I'm from Texas, but I am currently stuck in SE GA (and hate it)

-I've been married to my wonderful husband for 5 years now and he's in the Navy (why we're stuck in SE GA)

-I have a 4 year old, she wears me out, but I love her dearly

-I write, a lot, even if the stuff will never see the light of day, I still write it

-We have a cat, I hate it. Lesson learned from having this cat, I am not a cat person

-I have my own vocabulary. I use it around my friends and in blogging, a lot (more than I probably should, I find myself writing it sometimes)

A long, overdue, update

2010-07-29T11:39:00.000-04:00

Hello blog land. Did you miss me? I've missed you! I apologize for being absent. You see, it's tough being me, and blogging is unfortunately not a priority.

So, what have you missed......
- I have a new, super secret project I am working on
- I just finished, completely finished, a book
- Deployment time is still dragging on (hence my absence)
- I have a new, special journal for exclusive excerpts and short stories. Feel free to read them at http://linzprescott.livejournal.com/ (you have to add me as a friend to see them)
- I'm looking for new beta readers. Feel free to contact me if you are interested!
- Voting for the hottness monsters ends tomorrow! After the voting closes, be on the lookout for a special blog about them
- I could use some new music suggestions. I'm thinking of making a new play list and would love to have a few new additions

Until my next update, enjoy what's left of the summer!

#AwesomeAuthors Tiffanie Minnis

2010-07-01T20:03:00.002-04:00

Writing, fiction or nonfiction, is considered to be both subjective and objective, depending on the topic at hand. Taboo topics, however, are still breaking grounds in the world of literacy. Author Tiffanie Minnis is one of these pioneers that are charging head first into tackling subjects that are often considered off limits; Tiffanie loves to think outside of the box and write challenging pieces.

Tiffanie’s first book (currently unpublished), ~D.I.V.A.~ Domestically Involved in Violent Affairs, tackles the subject of a woman who mentally and physically abuse the men she becomes involved with. Many movies, TV shows and books have already covered women who are abused by men, but very few have covered the opposite. Her work in this book is not only based on a true story, but embraces some of the many hushed taboos that society turns a blind eye to far too often.

As an author, Tiffanie is currently involved in writing creative-nonfiction books. In time, she hopes to branch out into fiction. On the other hand, Tiffanie has found writing to be very therapeutic, an escape of sorts. She considers writers block, in the middle of a train of thought, to be the one downside of writing. Once she overcomes her road block, writing allows her to delve into her own world of fantasies and visions.

In my interview with Tiffanie, I discovered that she came to be a writer in a fascinating way. Being that writing has always been her escape from the real world, rapping was what initially spurred her creativity. She found peace being able to lyrically flow the words of the world around her. Many of her friends were impressed with her skills and asked her ghost write for them. From there, she eventually made her way into the literary world.

Most of us writers also have unique influences. Tiffanie considers some of her favorite authors to be Maya Angelou and Napoleon Hill. When asked if she could only recommend one book for people to read, she suggested Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich because, “It's a great read that teaches us, if applied, how to repeatedly tap into our "Infinite Intelligence" by using positive thoughts to attract wealth and happiness.”

Tiffanie is also involved in the Writer’s Movement (WM). The WM is a unique source for writer’s that encourages and nourishes creativity. It also allows its members to inspire, network, and educate one another. The WM also assists writers in breaking self imposed boundaries while fueling discussions of beneficial subjects and topics.

When asked what she found to be the most rewarding aspect of writing, Tiffanie worded it beautifully. She said, “I write to discover what I think. I write to calm my anguished nerves. I write to see the inner peace within me. I write. It’s my therapy.”

Follow Tiffanie on Twitter @AuthorTiffanie and keep up with her at her website
You can find the Writer’s Movement at this website and on Twitter @writersmovement

The Hottness Monsters

2010-06-30T22:46:00.000-04:00

It's officially summer. It's also that time of the year when you can gaze at men and not get weird looks back because they're running around with very few clothes on.

As a romance author, it helps to have some eye candy to think of when describing the characters in my books. Many times, I have found myself sitting on the couch with my laptop, flipping through the channels, waiting for some inspiration. I call these men "hottness monsters." For those of you have seen the TV show Greek, you will understand that reference.

I tend to keep a variety of hottness monsters around. If I described every single man in every single book the same way, it would be boring, among other things. Of course, writing a physical description is not quite the same as the actual likeness, but it is still fun to write about these hottness monsters.

The poll, as you can see, started to get long. I had to cut it off somewhere, which is why there is the "other" option (feel free to post your "others" in a comment). When the poll closes, I will do a little write up, with photos, on the top 5 votes (or comments if there is enough of any particular man). As a little preview, each man will get a special title with their win, based on their rank.

Happy voting!

Time for an update

2010-06-19T10:51:00.000-04:00

I know I have apologized before, but I need to again for my lack of posting! Between summer vacation for the munchkin and this dreaded deployment, I find myself torn away from my precious keyboard far too often right now. It does not bode well for my writing, especially when I have ideas floating around.

With that being said, hopefully by next week I will be able to resume my #AwesomeAuthors posting. I have many, many wonderful writers still lined up to write about.

I also have a new featurette that will be coming up shortly. If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I have thing for "hottness monsters." I'm a romance writer, so it helps to have eye candy to look at when describing said hottness monsters in books. I will be posting a poll for you all to vote on so there can be a reader favorite. Feel free to suggest some hottness monsters too, I love and welcome suggestions!

In the mean time, I just want to apologize again for my lack of updates and posting. Don't forget that I have a followers contest going on right now, so suggest my blog to all of your friends and you will be eligible for a prize (I still haven't decided on the prize, sorry!).

Since I haven't posted in a while....

2010-06-04T11:01:00.000-04:00

I know I haven't posted in a while, but life does often get in the way. So, quickie updates!

The first contest of the summer starts..... NOW! It's a followers contest. If you are already following my blog, congratulations, you are already entered in the contest! Once I reach 50 followers, I will randomly draw a name from those 50 people and give them a prize. I have not yet finalized what the prize is, but as soon as I do, I will let you know.

Also, there will be no #AwesomeAuthors post next week either, sorry! Life has been really hectic, but things should calm down for sometime after I get through this next week too. I have many more wonderful authors I have to write about, so stay tuned!

Poetry musings

2010-05-22T14:08:00.000-04:00

5/22/10
They say that we are of the silent ranks
For months on end we are
The chef, the chauffeur
The mechanic, the gardener
The Mom, the Dad
Every night we tell our children not to worry
Every night we tell ourselves not to worry
As each day passes we pray for our husbands and wives
And for every day that we hear nothing
We know that this is good
For no news is good news
The photos that hang on our walls
The photos that hang in their bunks and tents
Are reminders that this has not been in vain
Their jackets have patches sewn about
Our jackets have invisible badges
We wear red on Fridays
They wear camouflaged uniforms
Every letter is cherished
Every phone call is remembered
The care packages we send are full of love and hope
They see them as their lifelines and connections to home
As we patiently wait
They carefully march
Homecoming cannot come fast enough
For once their boots touch our soil
They are truly safe

Summer contests!

2010-05-21T09:53:00.002-04:00

Guess what guys?! There will be several contests coming up this summer! I haven't decided what all I will be doing, but I have a few ideas that I would like to share with you...

First idea, a book give away. I have an idea as to what I will be giving away, but I need to work that out. If you have any suggestions as to what books/authors you want to see in a book give away, please, I am open to suggestions. If I can swing it, some of these books *might* be autographed by the authors. I would do that in conjunction with my #AwesomeAuthors campaign.

Second idea, a followers contest. It's pretty straight forward- if I reach a certain number of followers on the blog, all of the first followers up to that number are eligible for a prize. I may do the same on my Twitter, but probably not because I don't want to overwhelm myself with things going on.

Third idea, a "comment war." This is a relatively new concept that I was reading about, but also simple. I would post a blog, you post a comment, and whoever has posted the last comment at a certain time or after a certain number of comments, wins.

Fourth idea, a calendar giveaway. It would be the same concept as the book giveaway. I am going to contact my favorite photographer (the same one who is doing my book covers) and my favorite artist to see if maybe they would contribute to it (their stuff is amazing!!!). Quick shameless plug for them (because I love them!): Sheila's Art Anchored Hearts Photos

**edit**

My favorite resident artist and photographer have agreed to do the calendar, yipee! I will post details on this as soon as we have it together. I promise, you will LOVE it! Their work is absolutely AMAZING!!!!

If you have any suggestions as to what prizes you would like, please, I am open for those suggestions too. As you all may remember, the last contest we did, the prize was a $25 gift card to Starbucks. I don't want to repeat prizes, so I am considering (for now at least) another Starbucks gift card out (maybe I'll give another one out in the future).

In the mean time, be on the look out for a second excerpt from Allison Flanagan Likes to Date (which will be posted in the near future).

An excerpt from Allison Flanagan Likes to Date

2010-05-20T19:52:00.000-04:00

You guys voted, and this was the first excerpt you all picked out! This particular excerpt is a flashback to Allie's first date with her first boyfriend, Cole. Just before this excerpt, she met Cole at a party in college that she and her room mate, Tiffany, had been to the weekend before.

Enjoy!

I was really excited about my date with Cole. He was good looking, intelligent, kind, and actually had manners. Back then, I wouldn’t have thought anything more of him at that point. These days, I would be suspicious and automatically start wondering what was wrong with him.

Cole and I texted throughout the week, but it was nothing special. He called me on Thursday to finalize our plans. Cole had gotten tickets to go see a play, so had told me to dress nicely and that we would have dinner afterwards. He also said that he would pick me up at my dorm room.

I really wanted to wear a dress, but it had just snowed and was supposed to be below freezing that night. Tiffany convinced me to buy a new pair of knee high boots to wear. We went to Nordstrom’s and I found the perfect boots; but, with the boots, I then ended up getting a new dress and thermal tights to wear (the kind that keep your legs warm, but still look cute). My Father had given me an emergency credit card to use. I had never used it up until then. When I told him about it later, he didn’t even care (my guess is that his new wife had his attention while we were talking and I would hear about it later when he got the bill).

When it comes to makeup, I’m what you might call a minimalist. I didn’t have a mother around to teach me, so I had to learn from my friends. I learned from them how not to do makeup. Normally, I would wear something that looked natural. Tiffany insisted that I get done up for my date. I don’t know why I let her talk me into it, but she and another friend did my makeup. The dress I had gotten was a dark grey; my boots and tights were black, so they gave me a “mysterious” look around my eyes. I hated it and couldn’t get out of it. They also made me put on bright pink lipstick.

Cole showed up at our door at 6:00 PM, just like he said he would.

“Hey, wow, you’re on time,” I said to Cole right after I opened the door.

“Wow, you look amazing. Do you need some help putting those boots on? They look tricky.”

“I think I got it, it’s not too bad,” I said as I slipped my boots on.

“Well, at least let me be a gentleman and help you put your coat on.” And he did exactly that. He was so sweet, I couldn’t get over it.

We took the T to the other side of the commons to the theatre we would be attending. I don’t remember the name of the play we saw, but I do remember that after the first act, it was so bad that we did not go back in. Our dinner reservations were a ways off, so I suggested that we go take a walk in the commons.

“You know, I’m really glad you came out with me tonight,” Cole gushed as we walked hand in hand.

“I’m really glad I came too. This has been fun so far.”

“Despite that weird play?”

“Yeah, what was that?”

“I think it’s called performance art.” Cole didn’t sound too sure as he told me that.

“I hope you didn’t pay much for those tickets.”

“They were free actually, so I don’t feel that bad.”

“That makes me feel a little better.”

“Oh hey look, you can see Orion’s belt tonight,” Cole said as he stopped to look up.

“Yeah, you can. You know the constellations?”

“I guess you could say it’s my vice. I own a really nice telescope.”

“I only remember the few I had to learn for astronomy in high school. I don’t know why, but I also remember the elements of the air on Jupiter.”

“That is a little bit random. Here, let me show you.”

Cole stood behind me, wrapped his left arm around me, and pointed to various constellations with his right. No guy had ever done that before, but it felt nice. He pointed out a few that I actually did remember, and some that I had not heard of. His voice was low and very soothing. I turned my head to look up at him. He had a big smile on his face, and it made me smile. He looked down at me right after that.

“What’s so funny?” He asked.

“Nothing, I was just smiling after I noticed your smile. You really like this stuff?”

“Well yeah. That and I’ve never been out with a girl who was genuinely interested in it. I mean, I know it’s kind of nerdy and all, but it’s fun.”

“I don’t think it’s nerdy. I just wish I could remember as much as you did. I feel slightly intimidated by you now.”

“Really? Ever since last weekend, I’ve felt intimidated by you. I have never met any woman who was both insanely hot and seriously smart at the same time.”

“So I guess your intimidation cancels out mine, thus making us even again. How’s that sound?”

“Sounds perfect.”

And then, he kissed me. It was such a perfect first kiss. It would also serve as the model to me for all future first kisses. Cole’s lips were soft, for a guy, not too soft. His kiss was firm, but not hard, and it was slightly moist- just the right amount. It lasted for a few seconds. I could feel my heart starting to race and my stomach did a flip or two. It was honestly, in my mind, perfection.

“Uh, Allie, you can open your eyes now.”

“I don’t want to. I’m trying to remember this so I won’t forget it, eh-ver.” So, he kissed me, again, and it was equally as perfect, if not better.

“It’s almost time for our dinner reservation. Do you want to head over? Maybe they won’t mind if we’re a few minutes early.”

“Sure, sounds great to me. Besides, my knees are starting to feel a little cold. Why did I wear a dress?”

“I think you look wonderful in it. I’m glad you wore it. You have cute knees.”

“Did you really just say that I have cute knees? I have never had anyone tell me that, seriously.”

“Well, I think you do.” Cole then slipped his arm around my waist and we walked to the restaurant.

Dinner was great. We talked more and never ran out of things to talk about. Cole made me laugh too, and I liked that; it made me feel good. After dinner, Cole did not want to take the T back; he felt that it was too unsafe for me (even though I had ridden it that late at night many times, alone or with Tiffany). So, he grabbed a cab for us to take back. We cuddled in the cab; it was nice!

When we got back to the dorm, I found out from a post it note she left that Tiffany had gone out with some friends and was not going to be home at all that night, or would be very late. I wasn’t exactly sure what the proper protocol was, so I asked Cole if he wanted to watch a movie with me. He said yes and we picked out something from the movie shelf.

The funny part was getting my boots off. After I bought them, I wore them out so I could break them in a little. I had not worn them for an entire evening though. Getting out of them after having been in them for several hours had in fact, proven to be a challenge.

“Do you need some help? Really, I don’t mind,” Cole told me while gesturing to help.

“Sure, I guess. Uh, how should we do this?”

“Ok, stand over there and hold onto that dresser with one hand. Hold on tight!”

I stood with my back towards my bed and held onto the end. It took several tries, but eventually Cole got my right boot off. Getting the left boot off, though, was a little trickier. Cole yanked a little too hard and I went sailing straight into him and knocked him over. I was lying right on top of him and we were both huffing and puffing.

“Are you ok? I’m really sorry, I forget my own strength sometimes,” Cole said in a concerned tone.

“I’m fine. Are you ok? That fall sounded like it hurt.” He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me.

“I’m great now. Fantastic actually.” He smiled after he said that; I smiled and then got up.

Cole and I cuddled on the small couch Tiffany and I had in our room and watched the movie. We ended up making out for a good chunk of it. It’s a good thing it was a movie both of us had seen otherwise we would have been screwed if someone had asked us what it was about. When the movie was over, Cole got up and put his coat on to leave.

“Are you doing anything tomorrow night?” Cole asked while wrapping his arm around my waist.

“I dunno. Tiffany usually finds some party for us to crash or a club to go to.”

“Sounds a lot like Jace. Don’t go, come out with me. There’s a band playing that I like at a club.”

“Sure.”

“Dinner first?”

“Sounds good.”

“Ok, I’ll pick you up at seven, sound good?”

“Sounds great. I’ll see ya then.” Cole gave me one last kiss before he left.

I went to bed shortly after he left. Tiffany stumbled in around 3:00 AM, drunk of course. She woke me up to ask me how my date went. I told her that we were going out again Saturday night, and she was thrilled for me. I finally felt somewhat independent.

#AwesomeAuthors Jordan Deen

2010-05-20T10:16:00.000-04:00

As an established author, Jordan Deen is quickly becoming a new favorite as a young adult author. Her books are edgy, full of adventure, and never disappoint. Unlike the ever popular “Twilight” and “Sookie Stackhouse” series, Jordan Deen’s latest novel, “The Crescent” revolves around werewolves as opposed to vampires. She shows a side of the werewolf dynamic that is both unique and stimulating.

Currently, Jordan is working on several books. One of these books is "Benches 2," the sequel to "Benches" (which is currently unpublished). At the moment, Jordan considers "Benches" to be her best work. She believes this because "Benches" deals with real life issues; it is not your ordinary, everyday, up beat sort of work. The books delve into the nitty gritty dirtiness of life and shows real emotions, issues and passions.

Falling into writing was an accidental coincidence, for Jordan. When she was very young, her family’s home burned down. She let her imagination run wild and would tell her friends at school extravagant stories about how it happened. Over time, she put that creativity on paper and now she is a successful author. You can find her debut novel, "The Crescent" in most major book stores.

When it comes to reading, like many of us, Jordan enjoys a variety of books and authors. Stephen King and Jane Austen are two authors that she personally considers to be influential. She particularly enjoys Becca Fitzpatrick, Lisa McMann, Alyson Noel and JA Souders, just to name a few. All of these amazing women have written books that readers can relate to on many levels.

On the other hand though, she also feels that many of the new writers she has met among the writers community have influenced her as well. For her, meeting many of us writers has been a rewarding experience. As Jordan said, “There are a lot of wonderful, untapped resources in the writing community and I'm excited they continue to share their experiences and ask me to share mine. We are all in this together and readers/writers best understand how much of a struggle writing a novel can be.”

Follow Jordan on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, keep up with her reading list at Good Reads and keep an eye out on her website for information about her amazing books.

New excerpts coming soon!

2010-05-16T10:49:00.000-04:00

The good news, the poll closed. The bad news, there was a tie. The worst news, because there was a tie, it means you all will have to wait a while longer for those excerpts because I have to do extra editing now. BUT, I should be thanking you all because I needed to do this editing anyway, so, thank you!

I will try to post the first excerpt sometime within the next 24 hours. After that, I have an #awesomeauthors blog I need to work on, so the second excerpt will come later this week, or possibly next week. There's another but though... these might be the only two excerpts from this book that I post. I have not decided yet, but at this time, I am comfortable with posting what I have in the past (a synopsis and two excerpts, which makes the magic three).

So, keep an eye out soon for that excerpt!

Terrific Thursday

2010-05-13T10:45:00.001-04:00

Well, I wasn't about to call Thursday something nasty, because who would read a blog entitled something like Tepid Thursday, right?

In case you didn't see it yesterday, the second installment of #AwesomeAuthors has been posted (thank you again Jessica for being a part of this!). I think from now on, with keeping in line to the writers movement on Twitter, I might start posting my #AwesomeAuthors stuff on Wednesdays (or Tuesdays, a day early). For now, I have a small list set up, but as soon as I go through that list, I will need more people to write about. So, PLEASE, if you know an author (published or unpublished), please, let me know about them and I will do my best to contact them and get them into my campaign! And, don't forget to spread the word about the campaign.

In other news, the first Allison Flanagan book has been completed, yipee! It also explains my lack of posting the past couple weeks. I became so focused on it that everything else around me was forgotten (including housework- sorry honey!). BUT, it's written and edits have begun. The funny thing was the night I finished it. I was on such a role that I dove right into the second book. The second book is already a third of the way done. The funniest part is that the opening to the third book is already written; it has to do with my crazy flashbacks Allie likes to take us on.

On to the subject of Beta Readers! I know some of you don't know what that means. It's very simple- a fresh pair of eyes! NOT a proof reader though (unless you actually want to). I already have several wonderful volunteers, but I am always looking for more. All you need to do is read what I've written and then tell me what you think about it (honest opinions only, please!). If you're interested, please feel free to email me.

In the mean time, I must resign myself to a day of sewing tutus for a certain little girl's birthday party. By the way, if you have a daughter, I highly recommend reading to her the Fancy Nancy series. As I learned the hard way, while Fancy Nancy is equally as cute at Eloise, Fancy Nancy will not encourage your child to do some of the same silly antics Eloise liked to get herself into. Lesson learned here- reading Eloise to a 3 year old will leave you with a child running around telling people, "Hi! I'm Eloise! I'm 6! I live at the Plaza Hotel!" Reading Fancy Nancy to the same 3 year old will have her running around playing dress up. So, a Fancy Nancy birthday party it is!

#AwesomeAuthors Jessica Rosen

2010-05-12T21:34:00.000-04:00

For Jessica Rosen, coming into serious writing was brought about in a unique manner. She had made several attempts before, but nothing that she considered to be successful. Jessica was putting forth efforts to quit smoking. One night, a dream came to her in her sleep that she believes may have been enhanced by the nicotine patch she was wearing. What she saw inspired her to take a closer look. The next thing she knew, she had the idea for a set of novels based in a similar dream world.

Although she is not yet published, she does have plans to submit her first novel this fall for publication entitled “Worlds Apart.” Currently, the novels she has written fall under the romantic suspense genre. Recently, she also began writing flash fiction to further her writing skills. Flash fiction allows her to try different genres, such as horror and cyberpunk. Jessica posts stories weekly on her site.

Jessica’s reading interest vary, but have also helped influence her. Science fiction initially drew her in at a very young age. She particularly enjoyed reading about experiments in space. While she does consider science fiction to be her first love of books, she also loves to read cyberpunk and fantasy. Jessica reads a variety of genres though, including a recent love for crime thrillers and mysteries.

I asked Jessica what authors have influenced her over the years. She told me that she loves Robert Jordan, Walter Jon Williams, Nora Roberts, Sue Gafton, and many, many others. I also asked her how and if they directly influenced some of her works. Her answer I believe is true for all of us writers, and readers as well. “Writer or not, it's all but impossible not to be influenced by what one reads. Authors weave their spell and leave their mark upon the reader. When that reader is also a writer, the spell is woven further. I've been influenced by writers of all genres as well as the many toiling away to be published. Reading the work of other writers in the community on Twitter is eye-opening. The bar can get set awfully high.”

Another interesting thing that I learned from Jessica is that she does not believe in writer’s block. As a fellow writer, this intrigued me and I asked her to explain why. As she said, “In my mind, writer's block is an excuse for letting the inner editor or fears take over. While I'll accept "writer's pause," block is not allowed. You can't let that blank page make you gulp or get mesmerized by the blinking cursor. Just write, keep writing. If you don't know exactly how you want to put something, put the general idea and just keep going. They're called rough drafts for a reason.”

Follow Jessica on twitter @jessrosenbooks and keep up with her blog for more about her work

My writing process, in a nut shell

2010-05-04T19:32:00.000-04:00

The writing process is different for all of us. In the end, though, we all have the same goal (writing a good story). Some of us start with outlines while some of us like to start with an idea; sometimes, both of those things are what put everything into motion.

The past few days I have been working hard to plow through my latest story. It's funny how this one has turned out. It started out with a lose outline. The outline I made was more of a time line of my protagonist's life. As I got into the story, the outline started filling itself in. I do realize that sounds a little backwards, but for me, it had to do with creating her back story. I've written in some flashbacks that explain why and how she has gotten to where she is now.

I've gotten a bit of a laugh out of writing this story because I constantly find myself trying to get ahead to write parts that I find exciting. Of course, in doing that, I find that I start going a million miles a minute and making far too many grammar errors. Just the other day, I was half tempted to write the prologue in the third book of this series simply because once I got the idea for it, I was hell bent on getting it on to paper (I was able to hold myself back though, but I don't know how much longer I can make it!).

Many of you can relate this next bit. We all get brilliant ideas and immediately want to put pen to paper. Real life does call and tears us away from our keyboards far too often, or keeps us busy out in the real world doing daily tasks. This is why I believe that when you get those brilliant ideas, it's good to get it out.

That is also the reason why I carry a small notebook in my purse; by having my cute green book with me, I can write down my idea and remember exactly what it was I thought of at that moment later on when I sit back down at my precious computer. I know how crazy it sounds, but not all of us are going to remember our genius idea in 3 days when we have a chance to write about it. My notebook has also become a handy tool for remembering certain buzz words that create emotion and atmosphere.

Ideas and inspiration are all around us. I really do mean it! Last week, I was out with my daughter running errands. She pointed out a poster and made a comment on it. That comment soon became an idea for an adventure for a character in my book. Just yesterday, I was cruising through fmylife.com and one of the entries became another inspiration for an event in the same book. These two ideas are from very different angles, but worked out into fantastic material for me!

So, my fellow writers, if you don't have a little green notebook, what do you have?

Super Saturday

2010-05-01T21:52:00.000-04:00

First, a slightly random, non-writing related mini-rant (of sorts)...

I realize that not everyone has children. BUT, we were all kids at some point in time. I have always loved to read. As a child, that was one of my favorite things to do before bed (or to have my parents read to me). I grew up with Eloise, as did my own my Mother. My very own daughter has on her book shelves the same Eloise books that I AND my Mother grew up with (yeah, you read that right, my daughter has some first edition Eloise books, and yes, they are starting to fall apart). Eloise has been made into TWO television movies and a short series of cartoons. I think that qualifies as a successful children's series, don't you? Not only that, Julie Andrews played Nanny in the movies, Lynne Redgrave did Nanny's voice in the cartoon, and so many other big names contributed to the Hollywood versions. Now, Fancy Nancy on the other hand is still new to the game. BUT, there is a line of Fancy Nancy dress up clothes and toys at Target. It's not a movie, but even Eloise doesn't have that! So I wanna know, why didn't that waitress at the very least know who Eloise was? It just reinforces my belief that not enough people read, or even read to their children (which is why I am so committed to my #AwesomeAuthors campaign).

Next up, the real stuff, writing! I have nearly completed my third edit of Two. I'm still catching grammar errors (I haven't decided if that's a good or bad thing yet). When that edit is finished, I am going to go back and do some more editing. Every time I re-read it, I continue to find things I want to change, cut, add, or something else altogether. I hope that after my next edit, I hope I can settle on what's there.

Allison Flanagan on the other hand is nearing the end of the first book, yay! The hardest part has been trying to figure out where exactly to end the first book, how to end the first book, and then establishing where the second book will pick up (I already know how the third book will pick up, which is odd, I know). I'm really excited about writing this, but sometimes I feel like I am getting ahead of myself. I have an outline, so I know exactly where it's going, but I haven't written it yet. To me, writing the story is the best part because that's when everything comes alive (and often times, it's when half the outline goes out the window).

For now, I shall continue trudging along in Allison land until it is finished!

#AwesomeAuthors William Bryan Layton

2010-04-29T09:36:00.000-04:00

Today’s featured author, as a part of the #AwesomeAuthors campaign, is William Bryan Layton. William recently released the short story “Drowning Sorrows” on his blog and website. “Drowning Sorrows” is the prequel to his book, “Toe Tags” which will hopefully be published in the near future.

William is an amazing author who writes humorous pieces for magazines, and dark, psychological thrillers as novels. At the moment, he is currently working on a novel entitled “Killing the Pain.” This novel is about a man who, out of compassion, chooses to help his mate end her life after she discovers that she has RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy). What makes this novel exceptionally unique is that it is being written from the protagonist’s point of view, as told to a priest, the night before he is sentenced for death.

Many authors name certain aspects of writing as both positive and negative. As William said, “My favorite part about writing is being able surprise people. Whether this is with a joke or a dark twist makes no difference. My least favorite part is the self-doubt that plagues every word I write -- will the reader get this, will my emotions come through, WILL I EVEN GET THIS CRAP PUBLISHED?!?!”

So many writers can easily relate to his plight (myself included). In our heads, we think that we might have written a masterpiece, but the reality is that is it really that good? And, we won’t know until people read our books!

William came to writing in a unique approach. Like many of us, we he was not the model student in high school. During college, he chose to take advice from a friend about some of his course work. One particular piece was that he should take his English courses over the summer as it would require less work. As he soon found out, this was not the case. His professor was extremely critical of grammar in every paper that was handed in. Many of his papers were handed back to him with miles of red marks, and final grades of Ds.

The last day of this summer English class turned into a milestone for William. For his final paper, William decided to throw it all out the window and simply write a piece that he found to be funny. The professor informed that class that out of all of the papers she had read, there was one that stood out, and was worth reading aloud. By the time she had finished reading the paper, the entire class was laughing with her, and along with William’s paper. Even though his professor still found the paper to be humorous, it was awarded a D+. Years later, and after much study of the written word (with emphasis on grammar), William can now proudly call himself a professional writer.

As a reader, William’s interests are broad. He enjoys J.K. Rowling, Jeff Lindsay and Ernest Hemingway, to name a few. Jeff Lindsay (who wrote the “Dexter” series) has been an influence to William, along with Stephen King. On the other hand, when I asked William if he could only recommend one book for someone to read, he suggested “The Half-Blood Prince,” by J.K. Rowling (the sixth book in the Harry potter series). His reasoning’s were that he thinks J.K. Rowling is an #awesomeauthor who also knows how to perfectly blend action and dialogue (which I agree with) while being able to take you down an interesting rabbit hole of sorts.

I asked William what he felt was the most rewarding part of writing. He told me that it was being able to touch someone through his writing.

Be on the lookout for the June/July issue of Farm & Ranch Living for his humorous article, “Born to Beekeep.”

Allison Flanagan...

2010-04-28T15:04:00.001-04:00

Allison Flanagan Likes to Date (book 1 in the Allison Flanagan series)

Allison Flanagan loves men, and loves dating, but will never, ever, get married. Allie has her own set of dating rules that she has tailored to her wants and needs, which includes the expiration date of all relationships.

By day, Allie has a boring desk job. By night, she has a wildly fantastic life full of fun, friends, and a series of men that come with interesting adventures both in and out of the bedroom. Even though she is promiscuous, there is one rule she holds in high regards- no sex on the first date.

Through a series of flashbacks placed within her story, Allie takes us into her college years so we can see some of the reasons that have lead to her decision to never get married.

The end of this book will leave you wondering what her Father did to her as a child that left her scared even before her college years (and to find out, you’ll just have to wait for the next book!).

A poll will be up soon so you all can vote on which excerpt you want to read here on my blog!

Wonderful Wednesday

2010-04-28T13:56:00.001-04:00

Even though I have been out of college for several years now, I still find myself sounding out Wednesday just so I can spell it correctly (and I still use that trick many of us learned in grade school to pronounce it using that tricky D).

First up, a big congratulations to our contest winner, Ms. Sue! The name she chose for my unnamed character in The Thursday Lunch Club is Nashyra Skyelen. Keep an eye out this summer for my next contest!

Second item on the list, #AwesomeAuthors! I finally got my butt in gear and updated my website with a clear list about this campaign. Take a look! #AwesomeAuthors Don't forget to tweet about any #AwesomeAuthors that you know of too!

Third, look for that synopsis I keep promising any minute now. I'm putting the finishing touches on it right now. This darn head cold has really hindered my productivity. But, thankfully, it is finally starting pass and I don't feel so useless anymore.

Alright, back to the writing block for me!

Quick update...

2010-04-27T11:39:00.000-04:00

The contest has officially closed; entries are no longer being accepted. BUT, fear not, I will be running another contest in the near future, so keep an eye out for that! I will announce the winner as soon as I hear back from them.

As soon as I get over this dreadful cold, I will start making posts about some #awesomeauthors. I'm really excited about this! I am having such a hard time deciding who I should post about first.

If I can stay awake long enough, I am going to attempt to post later on a synopsis of Allison Flanagan, but I make no promises! I can promise that it will be juicy.

That's it for now! It's time for this sickly girl to go dig up some Sudafed and head back to bed.

Some Friday Hubub

2010-04-23T13:15:00.000-04:00

I'm taking a break from editing for the rest of the day to have some fun. That fun includes writing this blog, yipee!

Quick reminder, the contest closes THIS MONDAY!!!! So, hurry up and get your entries in. Don't forget, there is no limit as to how many suggestions/entries you can make, so keep them coming!

The #AwesomeAuthors campaign is really starting to come along. If all goes well, I should have my first blog post on one of these authors next week! I make no guarantees though, my life can be hectic at times.

This campaign has had a great start so far and I'm very proud of what we're trying to accomplish. From a personal aspect, it has been exceptionally fun for me because of all the new authors I have found. I have such a long reading list now! I think I might make a pledge to myself to read at least one book from each of these authors that I have not already read.

Now, for some REALLY fun stuff.... Allison Flanagan! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about her. I know I have been bad about posting her little dating tips, but for a good reason. I have been busy fine tuning parts of this novel in hopes that I will be able to post an excerpt for you all. As with the previous excerpt I posted, I will be posting a poll soon so that you all can vote about which snippet you want to read. I will also post, sometime this weekend, a brief synopsis for you all. Don't forget, Allison Flanagan will be a short series, so this part will be from the first book.

One last reminder, if you are on Twitter, please tweet about your favorite #AwesomeAuthors! It can be any author(s) you want! Tweet and read about them!!!

All About #AwesomeAuthors

2010-04-21T09:35:00.001-04:00

So, what is this #AwesomeAuthors campaign about you ask? Simple, it all boils down to READING! Reading is one of the oldest forms of entertainment. I hear so many people say "but I don't like reading." To all of those people I say, well, you just haven't found something you like yet.

Over the next few weeks, I will be blogging about some of the awesome authors I have come across recently. They have all written a wide variety of work and it is my hopes that someone who is not normally a "reader" might find someone who writes in a style that best suits their interests. I will not be blogging about well known authors though (sorry to disappoint everyone!).

I have talked to several "new" authors and plan to write about them over the next few weeks. They have written books ranging from romance, to psychological thrillers, and inspirational works. However, you will find with most of them that just because their book is labeled one thing, doesn't mean it can't be something else as well. Some of my personal favorite authors have written books that can be classified as multiple genres, but are typically labeled as one thing.

I will be tweeting about some classic authors as well. Yesterday, I tweeted about Louisa May Alcott and Henry David Thoreau. If you have any suggestions about some classics that I should be tweeting about, please, let me know. OR, better yet, tweet about them yourselves!

I encourage everyone to participate. Tweet about your favorite authors (new and old), tweet about someone you know who's about to become a published author, tweet about an author you just heard of, tweet about any author. Read about them too! Don't forget, when you tweet, use #AwesomeAuthors in your tweet so we all know.

If you are an #AwesomeAuthor and would like to be featured, please feel free to email me at prescottlindsay@gmail.com so that I can start a profile on you.

#AwesomeAuthors

2010-04-19T22:52:00.000-04:00

Guess what guys, we're halfway through contest!!!! I've already received a handful of entries and I'm patiently waiting for more, so hurry up! Quick reminder, you have until 2 PM EST on April 26 to get all your entries in, so keep submitting as many as you want!

In other news, I have almost finished the first book in the Allison Flanagan series, yay! I say almost because I have reached a small road hump, but I'm slowly making my way through this detour (that's my polite way of saying I have a slight case of writer's block).

If you're not following me on Twitter, you should do it @linzprescott. I have started a campaign I am dubbing #AwesomeAuthors. There's a #musicmonday, #followfriday, and a few other things, but I have yet to see anything as a trending topic that relates to reading.

I love reading (and writing) and I appreciate to no ends meet all the wonderful authors who put so much time into writing the wonderful books I have read. Not many people enjoy reading, but I think it's because they haven't taken the time to look for an author or style of writing that best suits their interests. There are literally thousands of published (and unpublished) authors who have written a plethora of stories in all sorts of genres.

I started out today with my #awesomeauthors push by listing all of the amazing writers I follow on my Twitter. Over the next few weeks, I plan to write special, individual tweets about all of these authors to highlight what makes them awesome, and what they write. I also plan to sit down one day and look for other authors who are on twitter so that I can tweet about them to all of you.

I encourage ALL of you to tweet about your personal favorite authors as well (even if they only wrote one book you like, tell the whole twitterverse about it!). Writing is one of the oldest forms of entertainment and it's something that in this day and age with all of this technology is vastly underrated. If it weren't for some of the awesome authors I know of, I may have never begun writing.

A few answers for a few questions

2010-04-13T21:09:00.000-04:00

I've had several questions brought before me about the contest and I thought I would post some of the answers right here because I'm guessing that some of you might have been wondering the same things.

Q: How do I follow your blog?
A: Log into your blogspot account (if you don't have one, it's free sign up), and then click to follow button on my blog (you'll find it on the right hand column a short ways down).

Q: What will happen to the names that aren't picked? Will you use them?
A: All of the emails with your suggestions will be discarded after the contest is over. I will not use any of your suggestions for other characters. I have already named ALL of the characters in this book except for the one that will be chosen through this contest.

Q: Do I have to follow your blog to participate?
A: The rules clearly state that you do have to follow my blog in order to participate in this contest. This is to make sure that we are receiving legitimate entries and not spam or people tyring to blindly win the prize.

Q: Will I really get a gift card to Starbucks?
A: Yes! I have the card in my possession (it just arrived in the mail yesterday), and it is a valid card.

Monday hubub

2010-04-12T14:27:00.001-04:00

Guess what, the contest starts soon! Although, I'm willing to bet that by the time I have finished writing this blog, it will have officially started (I am attempting to multi-task right now, this should be interesting!).

I wanted to give you all a little back story to this contest and how I came up with the idea. It's also a look into how I have chosen character names in previous books.

When I first started seriously writing, I wanted to come up with "unique" names for my characters. My first thought was running through all of the names of my personal friends. After some thought, I opted to make a conscious effort to never name any character after any of my friends or family if I could avoid it.

I visited a few websites that had popular names and baby names listed. They gave me a good starting point for first names, and a few last names as well. It left holes though for other last names.

My married name is Irish, and there was a website that made authentic Irish coat of arms. I was on the site one day looking at everything they had to offer. I just happened to stumble across a list of "all" of the Irish surnames out there on this same site. From there, I started looking at other names as well as names from other countries. However, you will find that I tend to use a lot of Irish names for my characters (I call it homage to my Irish husband).

The more I got into this, the more names I needed. I was trying not to recycle names though or use names in other popular books, movies and TV series. It was because of this that you will notice that occasionally, there will be a character or two in some books that have what might be considered bizarre names (for example, in one book, I have a character named Pirate, seriously!).

One of my best friends was reading one of my books in the early stages and started questioning my name choices. We got a laugh out of it, but she still questioned it. It was from there that occasionally, she would try and suggest names for me (or even new names for existing characters). So, because of her persistent suggestions, I decided to find a way to work her ideas into a contest.

As for the prize of this contest, it was actually inspired by another friend of mine. I had long considered myself a Starbucks addict. I don't need to look at the menu (I usually get a latte, frappucino, or iced tea), I simply walk up to the counter and tell the barista what I want. The Target closest to where I live has a Starbucks in it. Nearly every time I visit, I get something from Starbucks. I would make excuses to go to Target just to get Starbucks.

One Saturday morning, I was up early with my daughter. I was sitting at my desk cruising over my friend's statuses on Facebook. I saw that my friend was making a trip out to Target that Saturday morning just for Starbucks, and nothing else. I thought, that's dedication (keep in mind, it's a 15-20 minute drive from where we live). I then realized that I did not have a Starbucks addiction, she did (but this is a good addiction, really, I promise!).

Now for the interesting part, where I came up with the premise for The Thursday Lunch Club. I was at lunch one day with some friends. Some of the people I did know, but others I had never met before. I wondered that if a book had been written about the six of us at that table, what the book might have been like. A few weeks later, I was at lunch again, but with a group of women that I already knew, and very well. I once again thought, how would our lives look like in a book? We all had several common denominators, we were all friends, and all of us were involved with the others in some other way as well.

I put a lot of thought into it and started working on an outline. I kept thinking that maybe I should base my new characters off of my friends, but I tried to steer away from it. Eventually, I had created a character whose personality was exactly like my best friend's. I didn't even realize it until I was going over my notes. I toyed around again with the idea of basing characters on my friends.

As of today, I have spoken with a handful of my friends and asked for permission to base some of my characters on them. So far, all of them have agreed, and I'm thrilled! I won't rip their entire lives off for my book, there will be many differences (and because this is a fictional book, I can change things as they want me to as well). The friends that I am using for characters all have interesting lives (as least I think they do) and I think that their contribution to my book will in turn make it an amazing book.

Everyone has a story to tell, and I want to tell parts of their stories because I think it's something worth writing about. Not all of my characters are being based on my real life friends, only a few of them are. Running with the idea that they are allowing me to essentially write about them has given me a starting point for other characters for my book and how they will affect the story line.

So, to the ladies who are in my inner circle (and you all know who you are), thank you for being the best of friends I could have ever asked for, and thank you for allowing me to borrow parts of your lives. I promise that if you don't like my choice of name given to "you" in the book, I will let you have veto power over these names.

P.S.
If you visit Starbucks this Thursday with a travel mug, you'll get free coffee in that mug!

OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES!

2010-04-11T18:41:00.001-04:00

For those of you who have kept up with my blog, you know that my latest book that is being written is entitled "The Thursday Lunch Club." This book is about a group of friends who meet for lunch every Thursday. The story is about all of their lives and how they are intertwined. Each chapter is being told from the point of view of each lady.

For this contest, you, my loyal readers and fans, will have the opportunity to choose the name of one of these ladies! In order to participate, you will simply need to email me your suggestion in an email at contest@lindsayprescott.com . You can make as many suggestions as you want, but please send only one email per suggestion. Please only send suggestions of names that are female or unisex names. Any entries with male names will be discarded (the exception being if you can cite a source that uses that name as a female name- a website is acceptable as a source).

The winner of this contest will be given credit in my book for picking the name of this character. They will also be given a $25 gift card to Starbucks.
Please read the following for the specific rules and regulations in order to participate

Official contest rules, April 12, 2010

Contest starts at 2:00 PM, EST, April 12, 2010. Any entries sent in before then will be discarded. Contest closes at 1:59 PM EST, April 26, 2010. Any entries sent in after that will be discarded.

1. You must follow my blog "publicly.” If you submit an entry and are not already “publicly” following me, you have until the end of the contest to follow me for your entry to remain valid. If you have not opted to follow my blog "publicly" by the closing of the contest, all entries you have submitted will be discarded.

2. Your entries will need to be emailed to me, not posted in a comment. If you post an entry in a comment, that entry will be disqualified, however you will not be disqualified. You can simply submit a new entry, but just remember that what you submitted in a comment will then be invalid and cannot be submitted by you (that does, however, mean that somebody else could snag that comment and email it as an entry, so be careful!). Emails can be sent to contest@lindsayprescott.com

3. This contest is open to resident of the US, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and United Kingdom.

4. You can submit multiple entries for this contest, however you must submit one email per entry- multiple entries in one email will be discarded. I will let you know so that you can resubmit each entry in separate emails.

5. Once the contest starts, it will remain open for TWO weeks, so you have 2 weeks to submit as many entries as you want.

6. No fake emails for submitting entries. If we find you have used any fake emails, all entries you have made under any email will be disqualified. You will then also be disqualified from the remainder of this contest.

7. If you are named the winner, I will contact you to let you know that you have won within 24 hours of closing out the contest. You will then have 72 hours from the time my email is sent to respond. If you have not responded by then, a new winner will be picked.

8. The contest winner will be mailed the prize. Your address info that you give to me will remain private. I DO NOT AND WILL NOT SOLICIT YOUR ADDRESS NOR WILL I GIVE IT OUT TO ANYONE!

9. Your email entries will remain private, as will your email addresses. I DO NOT AND WILL NOT SOLICIT YOUR EMAILS NOR WILL I GIVE IT OUT TO ANYONE!

10. This contest is open to friends and family. To make this fair to everyone, when picking the winner, all entries will be dropped in a hat and drawn blindly- there will be no favoritism! There is one person who is exempt from this contest, they know who they are, and this person is remaining exempt to act as the referee should we need it.

11. If there is more than one person in any given household, each person may submit entries, but they must each submit them under their own email address.

12. If the same entry is given by multiple people, only the person whose entry is drawn will receive the credit and prize.

13. You cannot enter an entry/suggestion twice. As stated before, you can make multiple entries, but you cannot submit the same entry twice. If you do this, all of your entries will be disqualified.

14. No bribing! Anyone who tries to bribe me or my impartial third party will be disqualified.

15. Entries emailed after the deadline will not be accepted. Entries emailed before the start will not be accepted.

16. I will only send email confirmations for each entry if you ask for one in your email. Asking for a read receipt is preferred, but I can and will do hand confirmations for you if you want it.

17. In the subject line of your emails, please write APRIL 2010 CONTEST

18. When submitting a name suggestion, please only submit a female or unisex name. However, you may submit a male name if you can cite a source that uses a male name as female (websites are ok to use as a source). If you do not cite a source that uses the male name as female, that entry will be discarded (you will not be disqualified though).

19. There is no limit as to how many entries you may submit in a day.

20. No profane suggestions. They will not be tolerated.

21. No numbers or symbols as names for suggestions.

Semi-official rules

2010-04-08T22:11:00.000-04:00

I know "semi-official" is a weird title. I'm calling it that for now because I have left out the last few rules because it would give away what the contest is (and everyone knows now that I don't want to give that away just yet).

Don't forget that the winner will receive a $25 gift card to Starbucks.

So, with that being said, here are the "semi-official" rules for the upcoming contest:

Contest starts at 2:00 PM, EST, April 12, 2010. Any entries sent in before then will be discarded.
Contest closes at 1:59 PM EST, April 26, 2010. Any entries sent in after that will be discarded.

1. You must follow my blog "publicly.” If you submit an entry and are not already “publicly” following me, you have until the end of the contest to follow me for your entry to remain valid. If you have not opted to follow my blog "publicly" by the closing of the contest, all entries you have submitted will be discarded.

2. Your entries will need to be emailed to me, not posted in a comment. If you post an entry in a comment, that entry will be disqualified, however you will not be disqualified. You can simply submit a new entry, but just remember that what you submitted in a comment will then be invalid and cannot be submitted by you (that does, however, mean that somebody else could snag that comment and email it as an entry, so be careful!).

3. This contest is open to resident of the US, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and United Kingdom.

4. You can submit multiple entries for this contest, however you must submit one email per entry- multiple entries in one email will be discarded. I will let you know so that you can resubmit each entry in separate emails.

5. Once the contest starts, it will remain open for TWO weeks, so you have 2 weeks to submit as many entries as you want.

6. No fake emails for submitting entries. If we find you have used any fake emails, all entries you have made under any email will be disqualified. You will then also be disqualified from the remainder of this contest.

7. If you are named the winner, I will contact you to let you know that you have won within 24 hours of closing out the contest. You will then have 72 hours from the time my email is sent to respond. If you have not responded by then, a new winner will be picked.

8. The contest winner will be mailed the prize. Your address info that you give to me will remain private. I DO NOT AND WILL NOT SOLICIT YOUR ADDRESS NOR WILL I GIVE IT OUT TO ANYONE!

9. Your email entries will remain private, as will your email addresses. I DO NOT AND WILL NOT SOLICIT YOUR EMAILS NOR WILL I GIVE IT OUT TO ANYONE!

10. This contest is open to friends and family. To make this fair to everyone, when picking the winner, all entries will be dropped in a hat and drawn blindly- there will be no favoritism! There is one person who is exempt from this contest, they know who they are, and this person is remaining exempt to act as the referee should we need it.

11. If there is more than one person in any given household, each person may submit entries, but they must each submit them under their own email address.

12. If the same entry is given by multiple people, only the person whose entry is drawn will receive the credit and prize.

13. You cannot enter an entry/suggestion twice. As stated before, you can make multiple entries, but you cannot submit the same entry twice. If you do this, all of your entries will be disqualified.

14. No bribing! Anyone who tries to bribe me or my impartial third party will be disqualified.

15. Entries emailed after the deadline will not be accepted. Entries emailed before the start will not be accepted.

16. I will only send email confirmations for each entry if you ask for one in your email. Asking for a read receipt is preferred, but I can and will do hand confirmations for you if you want it.

17. In the subject line of your emails, please write APRIL 2010 CONTEST

Be on the look out as early as Sunday evening to find out WHAT the contest is!

Contest update

2010-04-07T13:17:00.000-04:00

It's official, we have a prize for whoever wins the contest. I know you guys are dying to find out, right? Well, I won't keep you any longer. The winner will receive...

A $25 gift card to Starbucks! AND, the special part of this gift card is that it's personalized. In case you were wondering what my favorite Starbucks drink is, take a look at that card and you'll be able to figure it out (and that's the card YOU could win!).

I have also finalized what the contest will be. I still will not tell you all until the day the contest starts, but I might post it the night before (I'm still pondering that). It will be fun though, I promise!

Don't forget that in order to be eligible to participate in this contest you need to be a "public" follower of my blog, so hurry up and become a follower!

Monday hodegpodge

2010-04-05T17:21:00.000-04:00

First up, a Monday tip from the lovely Allie:

Rule number 25- if a guy uses the "3 day call" rule, don't even waste your time on him!

Next up, more info on the contest. The contest will officially start NEXT Monday (that's April 12) at 2:00 PM (14:00), EST. So, if you live in a different time zone, pay attention! I will be posting the official contest details Monday morning before the contest starts, so any entries that are submitted before 2:00 will be rejected.

I also want to remind everyone of rule number one of the contest- in order to be eligible, you have to be following my blog "publicly." This is so I can verify that you are a legitimate follower and not just out to get a quick prize.

Speaking of prizes, I am in the process of finalizing the prize! As soon as I have it set in stone, I will let you know (I am hoping to announce that on Wednesday or Thursday, so keep an eye out). Like I said before, it's a REALLY good prize, you all will love it, I promise!

Update on the contest

2010-04-04T21:38:00.000-04:00

Ok, quick update for you all on the contest. This contest is open to residents of the following countries:

US, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and United Kingdom

I am sorry that I could not include every single country at this time. There will be other contests, I promise! So, don't fret, there will be other chances.

So no one is left wondering... The contest is only available to people in these countries because of the prize I am offering. I don't want to tell you what the prize is just yet and ruin the surprise!

CONTEST!!!

2010-04-04T13:57:00.001-04:00

Ok guys, it's that time, I have a contest coming up! It won't actually start until next week though, but I am telling you now to give you a heads up because you all need to know the rules ahead of time.

So here it is, the contest rules (subject to change prior to contest start):

1. You must follow my blog "publicly" (I know some of you follow it privately, but I need to be able to confirm that you are legitimately following and keeping up). If you submit an entry and are not already publicly following me, you have until the end of the contest to follow me for your entry to remain valid. If you have not opted to follow my blog "publicly" by the closing of the contest, all entries you have submitted will be discarded

2. Your entries will need to be emailed to me, not posted in a comment (you'll see why when I post the contest). If you post an entry in a comment, that entry will be disqualified, but you will not be. You can simply submit a new entry, but just remember that what you submitted in a comment will then be invalid and can not be submitted by you (that does mean that somebody else could snag that comment and email it as an entry, so be careful!)

3. As of today, I do not know who all the contest will be open to, but it will for sure be open to residents of the US and Canada, and possibly other countries (I'm still hashing out the details- I will let you know soon!)

4. You can submit multiple entries for this contest, however you must submit one email per entry- multiple entries in one email will be discarded. I will let you know so that you can resubmit each entry in separate emails

5. Once the contest starts, it will remain open for TWO weeks, so you have 2 weeks to submit as many entries as you want

6. No fake emails for submitting entries. If we find you have used any fake emails, all entries you have made under any email will be disqualified

7. If you are named the winner, I will contact you to let you know that you have won within 24 hours of closing out the contest. You will then have 72 hours from the time my email is sent to respond. If you have not responded by then, a new winner will be picked

8. The contest winner will be mailed the prize. Your address info that you give to me will remain private. I DO NOT AND WILL NOT SOLICIT YOUR ADDRESS!

9. Your email entries will remain private, as will your email addresses. I DO NOT AND WILL NOT SOLICIT YOUR EMAILS!

10. This contest is open to friends and family. To make this fair to everyone, when picking the winner, all entries will be dropped in a hat and drawn blindly- there will be no favoritism! There is one person who is exempt from this contest, they know who they are, and this person is remaining exempt to act as the referee should we need it

11. If there is more than one person in any given household, each person may submit entries, but they must each submit them under their own email address

12. If the same entry is given by multiple people, only the person who's entry is drawn will receive the credit and prize

13. You can not enter an entry/suggestion twice. As stated before, you can make multiple entries, but you can not make the same entry twice. If you do this, all of your entries will be disqualified

14. No bribing! Anyone who tries to bribe me or my impartial third party will be disqualified

15. Entries emailed after the deadline will not be accepted

16. I will only send email confirmations for each entry if you ask for one in your email. Asking for a read receipt is preferred, but I can and will do hand confirmations for you if you want it

17. In the subject line of your email, please write APRIL 2010 CONTEST

These are the preliminary rules, and as said before, they might change before the contest starts. Once the contest starts though, that's it, they will not change. The official rules will be posted the morning before the contest starts. I'm sorry for making some of these rules sound a little vague, but that is because I am trying to keep the contest a secret before actually posting it. I wanted to give everyone a heads up so you know in case you are seriously interested. I will tell you this much... it is NOT a trivia contest, so you won't have to worry about solving a silly riddle. It is also NOT a scavenger hunt.

Since this is my first contest that I am running, I am sure there may be some bumps. This is also why the prize is small (it's a fantastic prize though, I promise!). If this contest goes well, I will run another one over the summer, possibly sooner.

Keep an eye out later this week for a posting on exactly who all is eligible to enter this contest.

Q&A

2010-04-03T12:39:00.000-04:00

The past few weeks, I've had some questions asked of me, several times. I feel like I repeat myself at times, but not all of the questions have been asked of me.

If you guys want to, please feel free to post in the comments of this post any questions you may have of me (ANY question you want, really!). Later this week, I will answer all of them (plus some that have already been asked of me).

I'll answer one quick question that has been asked a few times (and I find this question quite funny)- am I a real person? YES!

A hump day treat for you all!

2010-03-24T19:41:00.001-04:00

I have a VERY special treat for you all on this lovely Wednesday. Another excerpt from Two! Can you believe it?! Neither can I! I hope you all enjoy it (especially because this might be my last blog post until I get back from my vacation).

I figured that since the excerpt you all voted on for me to post was related to Bentley's death, this next one would be very fitting as a follow up. To set it up for you guys, this is a letter that Lila wrote to Bentley exactly one year after his death.

June 15, 2009
Dear Bentley,
Today marks the first anniversary of your death. As you know, I have written you a letter every week since you died. I have decided that today shall be my last letter. I know you’ll never read these letters, but there is a part of me that would like to believe you are somewhere reading over my shoulder, and still with me in spirit. For over three years, I had you all to myself. You were my soul mate, you were my best friend, you were my husband and I loved you.

I don’t know what you were thinking when you wrote that letter to me. I gotta give it you, very clever hiding it in your will. It’s like you knew that after the day you brought it home, I would never look at the packet again. You always were clever, even though I would say otherwise. I miss that very much.

Right now, I am sitting on a plane on my way from New York to Minnesota. At first, when Uncle Jimmy gave me this job, I thought he was nuts. I figured I was not qualified to be a talent scout for his record label. I’m just some girl from Texas with a degree in culinary arts, what do I know about music? Either way, it’s turned out to be a fun job. Looking back, I think he gave me this job to try and get me out of my funk.

You certainly did a number to me, Bentley Callaghan. I was such a mess for a long time after your death. I was there, but I wasn’t there, like the lights are on, but nobody’s home. One morning, I woke up and it felt like you were on a deployment. I just went to my normal routine and was fine, until I went to do laundry. A few of your old shirts I had been wearing were in the laundry, it wasn’t pretty.

Tallulah seems to like the apartment Uncle Jimmy put us in. I like it but it’s a little big though. Uncle Jimmy said he bought it for whenever he was in the city and having a party. I knew that was a lie, but I didn’t care. I simply said thank you and took the keys. Tallulah also really likes the dog walker I hired to take care of her while I’m gone. My schedule right now is two to three weeks away, one week home. That’s really weird, calling New York City home.

I finally sold your truck the other day. I was sick of paying for a parking space for it. I mean it’s just me, what do I need two cars for, right? I think I was holding on to it because buying that truck with you was a good memory. I’m thinking about selling my car and upgrading to an SUV. I know you hate them, but I like being high up off the ground. I can afford the gas now, so don’t worry.

Ryan came to see me again this past weekend. I think he likes being back stateside. Plus, it’s nice having him so close. Granted, as long as there’s no traffic, it only takes him two hours to get here from Groton. As I discovered recently, the train ride from here to DC isn’t so bad. It was much less stressful than driving. I forgot how much I hated the drivers up here. I’m going back in a couple weeks with Ryan for Annemarie and Liam’s engagement party. Who would have ever thought that your best friend and my best friend would be getting married? What a trip!

I have to ask you something. That letter you wrote me that you stuck in your will, did you really mean that? Of course, I have to move on with my life, that’s a given, you’re dead. But start dating again, really? I just don’t know if I’m up for it. Maybe in a couple years I’ll be up for it again. I mean, I’m so busy right now. This job is proving to be a handful. I just, I don’t know.

If I ever start dating again, and that’s a BIG if, I know I will never find another man like you. I do hope that I can find a man who possesses many of the same qualities you had that I fell in love with. There are some qualities that I wish for them not to have though. You know which ones I’m talking about. One thing I think we will both agree on, if Tallulah doesn’t like the guy, then he’s no good for me and I should just move on!

I will always love you, and you will always reside in my heart. Last night, knowing that I would be writing this letter, I looked at my wedding bands. It just didn’t feel right wearing them anymore. I could never get rid of them though. I put them in my jewelry box right next to your wedding band. You’ll be happy to know that I have now given away most of your things, but I did keep a few for myself. Obviously, I kept your wedding band. I also kept your dress blues (with all your medals on it), a few t-shirts, your pocket watch, dress watch and your photo album. Everything else is off to better homes now.

Bentley, are you in heaven? Is there a heaven? I hope there is because I hope that one day, we will meet again, perhaps in heaven. I would love to see your bright smile again. I would love to be able to look into your ice blue eyes, trace the freckles on your shoulders, and be held by your strong arms. I would give almost anything for that right now.

I love you Bentley, more than you will ever know.

All my love,
Li

Today's tip from Allie

2010-03-21T20:10:00.002-04:00

Today's tip has been brought to you by the number 24!

Rule number 24- Never drunk text!

Happy Thursday, from Allie!

2010-03-18T10:30:00.000-04:00

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope you all had some fantastic green beer last night. We didn't have any green beer in this house, but we did get some fantastic new beer to try (we are, after all, an Irish household). So, here's a Thursday tip for you all from the lovely miss Allie...

Rule number 54- never let a guy order for you

My lunch ladies!

2010-03-16T21:06:00.000-04:00

Just in case I haven't said this lately- to my wonderful readers, and my amazing support team, thanks!

In the mean time, I just realized that I haven't said anything about my latest project! I know I did mention it on my website, but not on my blog. My newest project is called "The Thursday Lunch Club." In short, it's about a group of women who meet for lunch every Thursday. The book tells their stories and how all of them are connected. It's more complicated that, but you get the gist of it.

Two is nearly 100% done (between editing and rewrites, I would say that it's about 90% done as of this moment), and the first book of Allison Flanagan is roughly half way written. So, that's where that stands for now.

Keep an eye out later this week for another dating tip from Allie!

A Sunday tip from Allie

2010-03-14T19:35:00.001-04:00

Hello my lovely readers! Here's a rule for you from the lovely Allie (Allison Flanagan)

Rule number 36- never let a guy come to Sunday dinners with the neighbors

If you haven't already, go wander over to our new website!

Website and other updates

2010-03-09T19:19:00.001-05:00

For those of you who don't know, I now have my own website! It's not completely done, but it's slowly getting there. Go take look and let me know what you think http://www.lindsayprescott.com

In other news, Allison Flanagan will be a 3 part series. The first book as you all know is being titled Allison Flanagan Likes to Date. The remaining 2 do not have titles yet. I might hold a contest to help chose a title, but I am not sure yet (check back soon for details if I do run one).

As far as the series goes, I think you all will like where it will be headed. I have not yet posted a synopsis of the book as I have not finished writing it. Hopefully, I should be done with the first draft in the next week. As soon as that is done, I will post a synopsis for you all, so look out for that too!

For the time being, I have taken a break from editing on Two to make time for getting my website up and running. I promise to resume work on that shortly so that soon you all can read a copy of it. I hope you guys love it!

That's it for today, but more is coming soon. Keep checking back for more dating tips from Alie and updates on everything else going on.

A Monday tip from Allie!

2010-03-08T10:57:00.000-05:00

Allie's tips for dating...

Rule number 32- if a guy is over 40 and still single, there has to be a reason why (so find out!)

AND, the big one for today..... a website is coming soon, so stay tuned for details!

Feedback needed please!

2010-03-06T10:09:00.000-05:00

My fabulous readers, I need feedback from you all, please?

If you've kept up with my posts the past week, you'll know that my second book is about Allison Flanagan. Allie is a "serial dater" of sorts. However, Allie's "thing" is that she has a list of rules that she adheres to, which has given me several more ideas to bounce off of.

The feedback I need from you guys... I am thinking of possibly turning Allison Flanagan into a series. So, I would like to know if you all would love to read about her in more books, or just the one that I am writing.

Any and all suggestions and feedback would be greatly welcomed and appreciated!

Allison's Rules, post #2

2010-03-05T09:45:00.001-05:00

The rules for dating, according to Allison Flanagan....

Rule number 4: "summer guys" are only fun buddies for the summer, nothing more

P.S.
If you haven't already, follow me on Twitter @linzprescott and Facebook

The rules of dating, according to Allison Flanagan

2010-03-02T14:16:00.000-05:00

In honor of my second book, I've decided to do a series of mini posts about my newest character, Allison Flanagan, from my latest book, Allison Flanagan Likes to Date. Allie is a free spirited woman, but refuses to be tied down. She does, however, have a very strict set of rules. Twice a week (or more) I will do mini posts and reveal some of her dating rules.

Rule number 10:
If he's a cheap tipper, no second date.

I hope you enjoy these mini posts, and I hope that when the book gets published, you like Allie too!

Excerpt from TWO

2010-03-01T18:28:00.000-05:00

Ok guys, it's that time! You, my lovely readers, voted on which excerpt from my first book, Two, that you wanted to read. It was a close vote (we almost had a tie!), but one portion did ultimately win.

This excerpt is from the chapter entitled "Haze" in which the character, Bentley, sadly passes away. I have to warn you though, some of you might want a tissue.

The next thing I remember was waking up in my bed and Charlene was hovering over me. She had puffy eyes and looked like she had been up for a long time. Mackenzie then entered my bedroom with a plate of food. I didn’t eat it. Sometime later, my Mother came into my bedroom. She said something about being sorry and not to worry. I fell asleep crying after that.

I woke up later and it was dark outside. I started crying again when I reached over to Bentley’s side. I rolled onto his pillows, they smelled like him. Mackenzie must have heard me because she came running into my room and hugged me. I fell asleep again.

I woke up again to have Annemarie lying next to me. I rolled over to look at her. I didn’t know what to say. She told me she had kicked everyone out of the house and that Liam was currently out taking Tallulah for a run. Annemarie was the best, best friend ever; she always knew what I needed even before I could think about it.

A few days later, she woke me up early and told me to put on an outfit she had picked out; it was black pants, black heels and a black shirt with white accents. I don’t know why, but after I put on the clothes after my shower, I put a green sweater on over it. I had green eyes, and Bentley loved it when I wore green clothes because it brought them out.

The next thing I remember was walking into a church and seeing a casket, it was closed. I slowly walked up to it and touched it, it felt cold, and so did my hands. Liam grabbed me and made me go stand back by the doors. I don’t remember the service at all.

After that, I remember being at home, sitting on the couch, with Tallulah sitting on the floor by my legs. There were a lot of people in my house, some I recognized, and others I didn’t. Ryan came and sat next to me. He said nothing. He just held my hand. I know I was crying, I could feel the tears on my cheeks, but I couldn’t talk.

Sometime later, the only people left in my house were Annemarie, Liam and Ryan. Annemarie had made me change into some pajamas, and I just sat on the couch, staring at the wall. I remember then hearing a knock on the door and hearing Ryan invite some people in. Liam told me to stand up, and I did. Colt walked up to me and gave me a hug. I think I hugged him back. Rhys, Price, Maxwell, Jonathan and Jordan followed. I started crying again.

I woke up again to a dark bedroom and a half empty bed. I got up, took off the shirt I was wearing and got out a shirt from Bentley’s drawer to put on. Tallulah walked up to me and licked my face before she sat next to me.

I hope you guys enjoyed that! For now, I am off to go do some more editing!

A lovely Sunday

2010-02-28T12:14:00.000-05:00

The good news for those of us who live in the south- it's finally starting to warm up! The bad news, the pollen is out. Thank goodness I have allergy medication because I fully intend on taking my laptop and going outside to do some writing later this week!

Editing is coming along well on "Two." I'm halfway through the second edit right now. I've completely redone several chapters, so for those of you who have been lucky enough to see the first draft, be prepared to be wowed again!

I have also started querying agents; nothing yet. Hopefully I should hear something from someone any day now. I've only sent letters out to about 20 agents right now. I get the feeling that I might have to send more since the book I am writing is in a genre that many people don't seem to want to take on right now (I'm classifying it as "chick lit").

In other news, I have also written a little more on my second book. It's become a good distraction when I have gotten sick of editing on my first book. I may post a synopsis on that book later this week if I get more writing done on it.

In the mean time, if you haven't already voted in the poll, please do so, it closes soon! As soon as voting is closed, I will post an excerpt from the wining vote.

Second edit

2010-02-23T16:33:00.000-05:00

I am beginning to think that I am not a fan of the editing process. It's hard work and can be highly frustrating. The first draft of my book was just written straight through; I did not stop to do any editing along the way thinking it would be easier to edit later. Maybe that wasn't the best idea, but now I know for the next book I plan on writing.

During my first edit, I focused on attempting to correct grammatical and spelling errors. Now, on my second edit, I'm going back to rewrite parts, subtract other parts, or add new/different parts. It's an often frustrating process, but I know it needs to be done.

I do want to say thanks to my friend who has been helping me the most with my edits. You know who you are, and I know you will read this and will undoubtedly say something to me about this post. I said it before, but I just want to say it to you again- thanks for helping me, even when I'm being whiny, annoying, and uncooperative.

One last thing, don't forget to vote on the poll on which excerpt YOU, my lovely readers, want to see from my book, published on this blog. The poll closes in 5 days, so hurry!

My first book, synopsis

2010-02-21T15:07:00.002-05:00

Bellow is a brief synopsis of the book, but not all of it (I would hate to give away the ending!)

Lila Callaghan is a strong, independent woman. She has the man of her dreams, a wonderful dog, and a good life. Her life is what she considers perfect, until her husband is killed in a horrific car accident. Lila then spends the next year of her life trying to get back on her feet.

She finds herself in a new city, with a new career and job that is given to her by her Uncle. At the insistence of her friends, she finds herself dating again and in a confusing world that she never liked. Her job requires her to travel, and her friends set her up on dates throughout her travels as well.

Colt Adams is down to earth, kind, and a movie/rock star. He meets Lila by chance one night at dinner only to find out she’s friends with his manager, and she’s going to his band’s show that night. He finds himself drawn to her and wanting to know about her, but he has to settle for being her friend.

After her husband’s death, Colt does what any good friend would do- he is there for her as she needs him. When Colt finds out that Lila has started dating again, he jumps at the opportunity to take her on a date, until he realizes that she hasn’t gotten everything out of her system. He does a selfish and painful thing and tells Lila that she needs to date more before he can even think of taking her on a date.

Lila is conflicted. She is tortured with dating, and tortured with a childhood friend who she thought was making advances on her, only to find he is in a bad relationship that he refuses to get out of. After a particularly bad date, she finally realizes why Colt told her she needed to date more, and then convinces her Uncle to let her take her job abroad......

As of today, the title I have settled on for my first book is "Two." I would love to tell you reason why I chose this title, however it may give away some key points in the book. So, to learn why, you'll just have to read the book when it comes out to find out why!

My support "team"

2010-02-20T13:09:00.004-05:00

There is no "I" in team, this is a fact we all know. I am the one who wrote my book, but without my support team, I could not have accomplished this feat. My team consists of so many people, but there are some that I owe huge thanks to.

For every single person who has read the first draft of my book, no matter what stage it was in, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, all of you. You input has not only helped me, but were the creative juices I needed to keep this project going.

My parents deserve a HUGE thank you. Being the great parents that they are, they had the good sense to always see to it that I went to the best schools possible and receive a top notch education. Without that, I would not be in the shoes that I am in at this moment.

My husband deserves some credit too. Even though he doesn't always have the right thing to say, he knows how to graciously relinquish his comfy desk chair for my use. So, thanks babe for sitting in my rickety old chair while I bang away at these keys.

I posted a poll for everyone to vote on what excerpt(s) I may publish on my blog. Look for a book synopsis very soon, I JUST finished my first edit!

Editing, oh what fun!

2010-02-19T13:01:00.001-05:00

As of today, I am halfway through editing my first book, yay! This is monumental for me, especially considering how long it is (depending on who you ask, the average book is 80,000 words, mine so far is close to 97,000 words). This has definitely been a labor of love as it has taken up a lot of my time the past three weeks.

I can not tell you how many days I have gone to bed with aching eyes after staring at this computer screen for hours on end. However, even though I complain, I am actually very happy that I have pushed myself this far. At this point, some of my friends have read what I have written. Most like it, but a few couldn't get into it. I'm ok with that, you can't expect everyone to love everything you do (writing or otherwise).

Just a few days ago, I also started on the outline for my second book! This is another project I am ready to dive into, but I am trying to stay focused on finishing my first book (easier said than done). I've always been the type that will read several books at once, so I find myself wanting to work on several novels at once. I came to the conclusion that I need to finish one before really starting the other so I don't get things mixed up.

The hardest part this week was preparing everything for all the different literary agents out there, I had no clue that they all would want something different. Some want to read the whole book, while others want a summary with my mini-bio tacked on. Writing those turned out to be not so easy, but, I did do it.

As soon as my first book is done, I plan to post on this blog for all of you a small excerpt from it. I'm not sure what I will post, but I will be posting a poll. Before I do that though, I will post an entire blog on the synopsis of the book so you all can decided what excerpt you want to read.

My influences, part 1

2010-02-09T23:28:00.001-05:00

Many authors talk about other writers that influenced their books. While I do feel that there are some authors who might have helped me, I personally believe that they are not my biggest influences. To me, music plays such a huge role in my writing process.

Music is like a chameleon. While all of it has the same basis, every single piece is different. You sing the same words a million different ways, and how you sing it can influence how it feels to you. I find that when writing, music can help me set the tone of what I am currently working on.

For example, in the book I just wrote, there is a chapter where one of the characters gets hurt. Since I was writing this book in the first person, I had to get myself into the mindset of that character and how she might have felt at that time. I created a play list that had a mixture of music. There were several high energy songs coupled with slow, sad songs. The range of emotions people can often convey is very complex, so writing those emotions down can be even harder.

I listened to the play list in full before I wrote that chapter. I imagined myself being in her shoes; the panic, the anger, the fear of the unknown, the adrenaline coursing through your veins trying to keep alert so you won't miss anything. Trying to process everything individually was hard! I wrote down everything that went through my head after I listened to the music and then relayed it into the story line of how that character processed the event.

There are other things that have greatly influenced my writing, such as events in my own life, my family, friends, things going on in the world around me, and other things. I will write blogs on those things as well at a later date.

As of today, my first full length novel is fully written. I just started the editing process a few days ago. I have also started looking into possible literary agents- I had no clue there were so many! The more and more I do, the more and more I get excited about the endless possibilities that lay before me. I hope that someone will be will be willing to take me on, but I don't know if they'll like what I have written.

Just yesterday, I also started an outline for my next novel. This novel is going to be more fun, lighthearted, and very different from what I just wrote.

My Journey, the begining

2010-02-06T20:30:00.000-05:00

My name is Lindsay Prescott and I am trying to become a published author. This might sound crazy to some of you, but then again, it sounds to crazy to even myself.

My husband is in the Navy, and so we move around often. It is also because of this that finding a job that will work with our needs can be very difficult. So, we made the hard decision for me to be a stay at home mom and wife. I love my husband and daughter very much, but sometimes, I have a lot of free time.

I love reading and consider myself and avid reader. My problem is that I am also a fast reader. We have a public library in the town we live in, however, it is a small library and it takes a long time for the library to get new material. When we can afford it, I will buy books (used or new) to read. There are some books, though, that I will never tire of rereading.

When I run out of books to read, I often write short stories to keep myself amused. Recently, the stories I have been writing keep getting longer and longer. Not to long ago, I started on a similar story. The next thing I knew, I had written over 40,000 words and was barely halfway through the story I had created in my head.

After taking a look at what I had written, I wondered if it was any good. A wonderful friend of mine offered to read it for me. When she was done reading it, she asked for more. I was shocked that someone actually liked what I had written. I took a step back and wondered if other people would like it. I then asked two more friends to read what I had written. One of my friend's was a guy and wasn't overly fond of it, but I expected that because my writings were geared towards women more so then men. My other friend who had read it also loved what she had read and she too wanted more.

So, here I am, with a half written novel. My goal is to have it finished and edited by the end of this month (March at the latest) at which point I plan on perusing a literary agent. I know this will be a hard process, and I don't even know if any agents will want to take me on. I do hope that someone will love what I have written and can help me publish my book.

I have started this blog to be able to chronicle my journey with everyone. I also hope that it can perhaps be of some inspiration to other people walking in the same shoes that I am treading in. I don't know what the future holds for my infant of a novel, but I do hope one day make something of it.

Much love,
Lindsay Prescott